The World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA) and the World Editors Forum have condemned the horrific killing of Japanese journalist Kenji Goto and express deepest condolences to his family and all those who knew and worked with him.
“WAN-IFRA is deeply shocked by the news of Kenji Goto’s murder and condemns in the strongest possible terms yet another deliberate, cowardly act against a journalist,” said WAN-IFRA Press Freedom Director, Andrew Heslop.
“Crimes of this brutality are designed to send a message of fear, but the world’s media will instead stand defiant in condemning this latest attack against freedom. It is precisely by celebrating the life of outstanding individuals such as Mr. Goto that we find our strength to resist.”
Forty-seven-year-old Kenji Goto, a veteran war correspondent, was captured in October 2014 after he travelled to Syria to help secure the release of Haruna Yukawa, a security consultant he had met earlier that year.
Over the past two weeks, both men had been subject to a potential ransom deal, with ISIS militants demanding $200m from the Japanese government in exchange for their lives. A video purporting to show the beheading of Mr. Goto surfaced on extremist websites on Sunday morning. Mr. Yukawa was reportedly killed in a similar fashion last week.
WAN-IFRA registered the deaths of 17 journalists in Syria in 2014, while at least 79 have been recorded since the outbreak of fighting in 2011. According to research by CPJ, at least 20 – mostly Syrian - journalists are currently missing in the country.
For more information on WAN-IFRA’s press freedom work, visit http://www.wan-ifra.org/pressfreedom [1]
WAN-IFRA, based in Paris, France, and Frankfurt, Germany, with subsidiaries in Singapore and India, is the global organisation of the world’s newspapers and news publishers. It represents more than 18,000 publications, 15,000 online sites and over 3,000 companies in more than 120 countries. Its core mission is to defend and promote press freedom, quality journalism and editorial integrity and the development of prosperous businesses.
Inquiries to: Andrew Heslop, Director, Press Freedom, WAN-IFRA, 96 bis, rue Beaubourg, 75003 Paris France. Tel: +33 1 47 42 85 29. Fax: +33 1 42 78 92 33. Email: andrew.heslop@wan-ifra.org [2]
