IFJ and YJS mourn death of cameraman in Yemen

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and its affiliate, the Yemeni Journalists syndicate (YJS) mourn the death of cameraman Bilal Sharaf al-Din from Al massira TV who was killed on 17  September in the Saudi-led air strikes in the Al Jaraf neighborhood of the capital of Sana'a.   Sharaf al-Din was fatally wounded while covering the bombing of Al Jaraf and died of his injuries.   “We hold the coalition responsible for the death of our colleague who died in a bombing  that was targeting a residential neighborhood yesterday evening in the city of Sanaa,”  said YJS. “ We express our deepest condolences to his family and to the journalists’ community .”   The IFJ is gravely concerned over this new death of a media staff in Yemen and condemns the escalating targeting of media in the country as a big blow to press freedom.   “We mourn the tragic death of our colleague which is a reminder of the risks facing Yemeni journalists as they continue to put their lives on the line every day to report on the conflict," said IFJ President Jim Boumelha. " We urge again all warring sides to the conflict in Yemen to fulfill their obligations under international law to protect civilians and will hold them accountable for any harm done to journalists.”   A report released earlier this month by the Yemeni syndicate and covering the period January-June 2015 cites around 200 cases of violations against press freedom in the country including threats, imprisonment, media outlets bans and media workers’ killings.  Sharaf al-Din’s  killing brings to nine the number of journalists and media staff killed in Yemen since the start of the year, according to IFJ statistics.
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