Some of the highest rates of impunity in the murders of journalists can be attributed to killings by Islamist militant groups, CPJ found in its latest Global Impunity Index, which spotlights countries where journalists are murdered and their killers go free. The worst country for the second year in a row is Somalia, where the militant group al-Shabaab is suspected in the majority of media murders, followed by Iraq and Syria, where members of the militant group Islamic State murdered at least six journalists in the past year.
“The hardest, bitterest thing about being a journalist is that you see events as they unfold. You see history as it might still be changed, wars as they might still be stopped. Seen in close-up, everything looks more complex, more ambiguous, and sometimes the more you know, the less you understand. But if you talk, and talk and talk with as many people as you can, if you stay in the world’s veins, in the end you always get an idea of what’s happening.”
– Remembering journalist Anthony Shadid
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PHOTO: YURI KOZYREV—NOOR FOR TIME
Yuri Kozyrev in Iraq, 2002-2016: Witnessing the U.S. Invasion, the Rise of the Insurgency and the Fight Against ISIS
A look back at 14 years of work in Iraq
Followers of ISIS from around the world tweeted in support of an ISIS speech on Saturday, which allowed intelligence agencies to trace their exact locations.
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How Iraq turned off the internet:
Earlier this week, Iraq’s government turned off all broadband and mobile broadband connections, effectively cutting the entire country off from the rest of the world. The reason? So students didn’t cheat on their exams. Each block, according to the Social Media Exchange, took place between 5am and 8am, dictated by the Ministry of Communications across “all regions of Iraq”.
Iraq is an old hand when it comes to internet censorship, with 15 reported shutdowns in 2015 alone. At around the same time last year, officials in Iraq halted web services for the same exam-based reason. Other web blackouts took place in 2014 and included specific blocks on social media in an attempt to stop the spread of Islamic State propaganda.
But what makes the most recent case different to most – and worries civil liberties groups – is the scale and ease with which the network can be turned off.
They talk on Telegram and send viruses to their enemies. BuzzFeed News’ Sheera Frenkel looks at how ISIS members and sympathizers around the world use the internet to grow their global network.
Read more.
“Closing down a prominent international network on the basis of vague and unsubstantiated allegations smacks of political motivation to shut out uncomfortable criticism, and it’s an action that should be immediately reversed.”
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Joe Stork, Deputy Middle East Director for Human Rights Watch
(via humanrightswatch)
My first conversation with Islamic State was about my reporting. I had just shared an article I’d written about the terrorist group recruiting Western fighters on my Twitter when I saw that someone using the Twitter handle Abu Omar had also posted a link to the piece on his own account. His profile photo unabashedly displayed the black and white IS flag. As I clicked around his profile, I received a Twitter message from him:
“Your article is pretty good,” he wrote in English. “But it lacks some important details.” Abu Omar is not his real name; it’s his preferred nom de guerre. I’ve agreed to use pseudonyms for all my Islamic State contacts because they do not want their identities known, and it’s important for me to have access to them.
I thanked him for his feedback, careful to craft a response that wouldn’t scare him off. A few messages later, he was ranting about atrocities committed by the West and how IS is defending Muslims. Abu Omar said he was in Syria with Islamic State. I was continents away, in my apartment in Brooklyn. We exchanged Twitter messages until 4 a.m.
Read more from Alessandria Masi for CPJ’s annual publication, Attacks on the Press.
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A member of Islamic State sent the author a message, which translates as: ‘When you have understood the value of this box once it is sealed, you will have understood a reason for this garment.’ (Alessandria Masi)
The reasons for kidnapping journalists has varied, from intimidation through short-term abductions by intelligence services, to attempts to gain political influence or force the press to report on certain causes. Kidnapping and murder by drug-related syndicates, some with suspected government ties, have become common in countries including Honduras and Mexico. Kidnapping for propaganda is another motive becoming more common.
Read more.
