Atwar Bahjat
Atwar Bahjat | |
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Born | 7 June 1976 Louis Lyons Award (2006) |
Atwar Bahjat (
Life and career
Bahjat was born in
Following the US invasion of Iraq, she began work at
In the last three weeks of her life she became a television reporter for al-Arabiya. Prior to her death, she was one of the best-known television journalists in the country.[2]
Murder
On 22 February 2006, the Shia
Bahjat and a four-man crew were broadcasting outside of Samarra, surrounded by a crowd of civilians when, according to the sole survivor of the team, two gunmen arrived in a pickup truck and fired shots in the air, chasing away the crowd. One of the attackers shouted, "We want the correspondent" and the two began immediately firing on the journalists who fled as they were being shot at with heavy gunfire.[5][6]
The official government story of what happened next and who the perpetrators were has changed three times in the last decade and is fiercely contested by both Atwar's family and the families of her colleagues.[5] According to the government's official story Bahjat, Al Dulaimi and Al Fellahi were then abducted by three Sunni brothers—Yasser, Abdallah and Mohsen al-Takhi— and driven to a side street, where Mohsen and Abdallah shot Mahmoud and Khairallah, and Yasser raped and shot Bahjat. The bodies were found later that day.[7][8] The victims' families, who retrieved the bodies from Samarra and interviewed the sole survivor and local police, say the government's account is contradicted by eyewitnesses and medical reports, they state categorically that Atwar was not raped, and say the tragedy is being politicized to further divide the nation Atwar loved so much.[5]
On Saturday, 25 February, Atwar's funeral procession was attacked twice, first by gunmen who opened fire on Interior Ministry Commandos accompanying the procession, and later by a roadside bomb targeting the Commandos as the funeral cortege returned from the cemetery. At least three security personnel were killed in the attacks on her funeral and four people were injured.[9]
Investigation
On 7 May 2006, the UK
In 2009, Yasser al-Takhi was captured along with his brothers and forced to make a videotape confession to Bahjat's rape and murder which was then televised to the nation on Iraqi Television.[7] He was sentenced to death by hanging in a trial criticized by Amnesty International as falling short of international standards given the Iraqi government's routine use of torture to extract confessions. On 16 November 2011 Al Takhi was hanged.[12]
Posthumous recognition
In 2006, the
Megan K. Stack's Every Man in This Village Is a Liar: An Education in War, a finalist for the 2010 National Book Award for Nonfiction, has a section devoted to Bahjat.[15]
References
- ^ "أطوار بهجت ..عزاء أبيض بين غوايات البنفسج | Iraq Press Agency العراق وكالة الصحافة". Archived from the original on 21 February 2014. Retrieved 9 February 2014.
- ^ a b c d e May Ying Welsh (27 February 2006). "Atwar Bahjat: A believer in Iraq". Al Jazeera. Archived from the original on 18 September 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2012.
- ^ Megan K. Stack (15 March 2012). "Iraq Loses Voice in the Wilderness with the Violent Death of Journalist". The Cincinnati Post. Archived from the original on 8 March 2016. Retrieved 17 October 2012.
- ^ a b "2006 Awards - Atwar Bahjat - Iraqi Journalist". Committee to Protect Journalists. Archived from the original on 5 October 2012. Retrieved 17 October 2012.
- ^ a b c Shaker Al Fellahi (10 September 2009). "For God and History, Atwar Was Not Raped". Al Quds Al Arabi via Khaberni website. Retrieved 3 September 2017.
- ^ "Journalists killed in Iraq attack". Al Jazeera. 23 February 2006. Archived from the original on 27 February 2016. Retrieved 17 October 2012.
- ^ a b "Killer of Al Arabiya reporter in Iraq confesses". Al Arabiya. 3 August 2009. Archived from the original on 15 April 2016. Retrieved 17 October 2012.
- ^ Timothy Williams and Rod Nordland (5 August 2009). "Senior insurgent is captured in Iraq, U.S. says". Al Arabiya. Archived from the original on 8 March 2016. Retrieved 17 October 2012.
- ^ "Gunfire, car bomb rip through funeral procession of Al-Arabiya newswoman". Associated Press. 25 February 2006. Archived from the original on 9 April 2016. Retrieved 17 October 2012.
- ^ "Atwar Bahjat Beheading Video a Hoax". The Jawa Report. 8 May 2006. Archived from the original on 22 April 2013. Retrieved 17 October 2012.
- ^ Kaya Burgess (28 May 2006). "The Iraq execution video that fooled me". The Sunday Times. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 2 February 2012.
- ^ "Iraq urged to commute death sentences as 11 are hanged". State News Service. 17 November 2011. Archived from the original on 4 September 2017. Retrieved 17 October 2012.
- ^ "2006 Awards - Ceremony". Committee to Protect Journalists. 22 November 2006. Archived from the original on 10 May 2011. Retrieved 12 May 2011.
- ^ "Harvard honours slain Iraqi journalist". Al Jazeera. 26 April 2006. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 17 October 2012.
- ^ Susie Linfield (8 August 2010). "No Middle Eastern romance". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 17 November 2018. Retrieved 17 October 2012.