June 12 national writing day for Murdered VOI correspondent Sahar al-Haydari

Baghdad, June 8, (VOI) - An Iraqi magazine has announced June 12 as a national writing day for the Voices of Iraq correspondent Sahar al-Haydari who was killed on Thursday by unidentified gunmen in the city of Mosul.

The “Journal Iraq” online magazine said in a statement on Thursday that “it had decided to organize a national writing day for the assassinated VOI correspondent Sahar al-Haydari on June 12, 2007 to commemorate the journalist, which will be a symbol for the independent and free press.”

“Al-Haydari joined our team a few days ago and decided to write articles with her real name along with her image. She said “I was kidnapped and threatened while using a pen name, so I decided to write, mainly in Journal Iraq, with my real name,” the magazine also said.

“Sahar was using a nom de plume and when she used her real name in the first article for the Journal Iraq website she was certain that she would be a scapegoat for the free press,” the magazine noted in the statement.

“We know that we will be killed soon, but we wish to know the reason for this drama, which happens only to Iraqis,” the statement quoted Al-Haydari as saying during her first participation in the magazine.

The Iraqi Journalist Freedom (JFO) Observatory demanded investigations into the death, urging clerics in the city of Mosul to support journalists and highlight their noble role.

“Sahar al-Haydari survived several attempts on her life. The last one was in February 2006 in Baghdad,” read a statement of the (JFO).

“She told head of the JFO last week that she had received around 24 threats by phone or through letters found in front of her house,” the statement continued.

“The VOI correspondent’s friends told the JFO that her name was listed along with nine other journalists by an armed group,” the statement noted.

“The JFO demands the local government in Mosul to open an urgent investigation into the incident and calls on clerics in the city to support journalists and highlight their role,” it added.

“195 media staff were killed, including 105 journalists and 39 technicians, while 61 others are still missing,” the statement highlighted.

Three Iraqi reporters were killed during the past two weeks, including Abdul Rahman Al-Ieesawi, who was killed along with seven of his family in Falluja and VOI correspondent Nezar al-Radi, who was murdered in Missan during his participation in a workshop for journalists.

The JFO is an independent organization based in Baghdad. Its main objective is to defend journalists and press freedoms.

Al-Haydari’s name was among other names listed by what is called (Emir of the Islamic State in Mosul).

President of the Syndicate of Journalists in Iraq’s Kurdistan region Abdul Ghani Ali Yehya said that “Al-Haydari, a member of the syndicate, was followed and targeted by gunmen and we knew this.”

“She is a new victim for the Iraqi press,” he added.

Sahar Hussein al-Haydari lived in Mosul and worked for a number of media institutions.

She joined VOI on January 11, 2004.

Al-Haydari was born in Baghdad in 1962 and had a bachelor’s degree in media. She is survived by her husband and three daughters.