Iraq has become the world's worst place for journalists to work in, the US-based Committee to Protect Journalists said in a statement issued to mark World Press Freedom Day yesterday.
The advocacy group also listed Cuba, Zimbabwe, Turkmenistan, Bangladesh, China, Eritrea, Haiti, the West Bank and Gaza, and Russia, following Iraq in a ranking that it said "represents the full range of current threats to press freedom."
"In all of these places, reporting the news is an act of courage and conviction," commented the committee's executive director Ann Cooper.
"Journalism is essential in helping all of us understand the events that shape our lives, and our need and desire for information cannot be eliminated by violence and repression."
The annual list of worst places to be a reporter, made public by the US-based Committee to Protect Journalists on Sunday, is designed to draw attention to the state of press freedoms around the world, as well as political violence that impedes the free flow of information.
Escalating fighting that exposes journalists to the daily threat of death, abduction and intimidation is deemed responsible for propelling Iraq to the top of the list.
As many as 25 journalists have been killed in action in Iraq since March last year, when a US-led invasion aimed at toppling the government of Saddam Hussein was launched, according to the group.
"More than a year after the war in Iraq began, the country remains the most dangerous place in the world to work as a journalist," the statement said.
It said reporters based in Iraq have to cope with banditry, gunfire and bombings, while anti-American insurgents have added a new threat by systematically targeting foreigners, including non-Iraqi journalists, and Iraqis who work for them.
At least six Iraqi media workers have been murdered and several more have received threats since the launch of Operation Iraqi Freedom, according to the report. Meanwhile, armed groups have abducted at least eight journalists so far this year.
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