The Longest Wait: After 3 decades, 30 murdered journalists still have no justice

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Challenged Iran’s ayatollah
Mustafa Jeha
Killed January 15, 1992 East Beirut, Lebanon

The first journalist CPJ documented as being targeted in direct retaliation for his work – which CPJ classifies as murder – Iranian writer Mustafa Jeha was killed by unidentified shooters in East Beirut on January 15, 1992, making his wait for justice the longest in CPJ’s database. A Shi’ite Muslim, Jeha was an outspoken opponent of fundamentalism and had published works critical of the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

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Killed after Hezbollah story
Halit Gungen
Killed February 9, 1992 Diyarbakir, Turkey

Halit Gungen, Diyarbakir bureau chief of the newsweekly 2000’e Dogru, died soon after being shot in his office with a single bullet. Before his death, he had written an article alleging that members of the Islamic organization Hezbollah were being trained in the Diyarbakir headquarters of the Special Forces.

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Studying mechanics, complaining of death threats
Cengiz Altun
Killed February 24, 1992 Batman, Turkey

Shot 5 times in the back of the head while on his way to work, Cengiz Altun, a correspondent for the weekly newspaper Yeni Ülke, had reported death threats to authorities, which were repeatedly ignored. Colleagues suspected his reporting on state forces active in southeastern Turkey may have prompted the attack. He was 23 and studying to be a mechanic at the time of his murder.

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They came to his office
Kjasif Smajlovic
Killed April 9, 1992 Zvornik, Bosnia

Kjasif Smajlovic, the Zvornik correspondent for the Sarajevo-based daily Oslobodjenje, was killed in his office by Serbian soldiers, the newspaper said.

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Vanished from his home
Kruno Marinovic
Killed April 14, 1992 Foca, Bosnia

Kruno Marinovic, a journalist for Croatian State Radio, disappeared from his home in Foca, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and is presumed dead. Some sources said he might have been abducted by the Yugoslav Army or armed Serb fighters.

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Had traveled to make a documentary
Per-Ove Carlsson
Killed April 29, 1992 Kiunga, Papua New Guinea

Per-Ove Carlsson, a Swedish documentary filmmaker and freelance journalist, was found with his throat slit in the town of Kiunga, near the border with the disputed Indonesian province of Irian Jaya, also known as West Papua. He had traveled to the region to make a film about the guerrilla organization Free Papua Movement, which is fighting for Irian Jaya’s independence from Indonesian rule.

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An editor in a drug-trafficking plagued region
Ismael Jaimes
Killed May 6, 1992 Magdalena Medio, Colombia

Ismael Jaimes, the owner and editor of the newspaper La Opinion and a human rights activist in Magdalena Medio, a region plagued by drug trafficking and military violence, was killed by unidentified assailants.

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Kidnapped, then negotiations failed
M.L. Manchanda
Killed May 27, 1992 Patiala, India

Manchanda, director of the All India Radio station in Patiala, Punjab, was abducted by members of the militant organization Babbar Khalsa. They demanded that electronic media broadcast in the local language of Punjabi rather than Hindi. Negotiations for Manchanda’s release broke down after the government failed to meet the deadline set for complying with Babbar Khalsa’s demands. On May 27, the militants beheaded the journalist.

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Taken hostage and shot
Tura Kobilov
Killed June 1992 Bokhtar, Tajikistan

Unidentified captors shot and killed Tura Kobilov, an editor of the newspaper Bairaki Dusti, after taking him hostage in the Bokhtar region while he was carrying out his professional duties, according to the Union of Journalists of Tajikistan.

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At his TV offices when Shining Path’s bomb exploded
Alejandro Pérez
Killed June 5, 1992 Lima, Peru

Alejandro Pérez, a producer with Channel 2 television, was killed by a truck bomb that destroyed the building that housed Channel 2 television. The guerrilla organization Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path) was responsible for planting the bomb. Also killed were several security guards, including Javier Reyes and Teddy Hidalgo.

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Wrote about Hezbollah and Turkish counter guerillas
Hafiz Akdemir
Killed June 8, 1992 Diyarbakir, Turkey

An assailant shot Hafiz Akdemir, a correspondent for the daily Ozgur Gundem, with a single bullet to the head while he was on his way home from work, according to the paper. Witnesses said the assailant was between 18 and 19 years old. Akdemir had received threatening phone calls at work and at home in response to articles he had written about Hezbollah and Turkish counter guerrillas.

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One of Egypt’s leading secularists, whose works were banned
Farag Fouda
Killed June 8, 1992 Egypt

Farag Fouda, a columnist for the weekly magazine October, was gunned down and died the next day. A member of al-Gama’a al-Islamiya, a Muslim extremist group, allegedly committed the slaying. Fouda was an outspoken opponent of fundamentalism and was considered one of Egypt’s leading secularists.

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Those who took him were seen in police uniforms
Pedro Yauri
Killed June 24, 1992 Huacho, Peru

Pedro Yauri, director of the “Punto Final” news program on Radio Universal in Huacho, was detained by five men. According to eyewitnesses, the men, four of whom were wearing police uniforms and one of whom was dressed as a civilian, took Yauri at around 2 a.m., beating his father before they left. Yauri’s whereabouts remain unknown, but he is presumed dead.

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Wrote hard-hitting columns on graft, corruption
Danilo Vergara
Killed July 1, 1992 Iligan City, Philippines

Danilo Vergara, publisher of the weekly Philippine Post and secretary of the Mindanao Press Club and the Iligan Press Club, was shot at close range by three unidentified assailants as he left a printing plant on Quezon Avenue in Iligan City. A security guard who witnessed the attack and attempted to intervene was also killed. Editor of the Post until he became publisher in 1989, Vergara was known to write hard-hitting columns on graft and corruption.

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Uncle described police threats against him
Cetin Abayay
Killed July 29, 1992 Batman, Turkey

Police had previously threatened to kill Abayah, an uncle said, and on July 29, an unknown gunman shot Abayay, the Batman representative of the monthly Ozgur Halk, with a single bullet while he was on his way to work in the morning. Journalists from Ozgur Halk charge that the police organized the killing.

His writing exposed mainstream government/press collaboration
Huseyin Deniz
Killed August 9, 1992 Ceylanpinar, Turkey

Huseyin Deniz, a columnist for the daily newspaper Ozgur Gundem, was killed while on his way to the office. Three people approached him, one of them shot one bullet into his neck. Colleagues from his paper say that Deniz was killed because of the last article he wrote, which detailed the collaboration between the mainstream press and the state. Deniz also authored a book on Kurdish proverbs.

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‘We have killed all journalists. Now it’s your turn’
Yahya Orhan
Killed July 31, 1992 Gercus, Turkey

Several shooters killed Yahya Orhan, a correspondent for the daily Ozgur Gundem, while he was leaving a coffee shop, according to the newspaper. His parents found 27 9mm shells at the scene, which was near the house of the subgovernor, whom Orhan had criticized in his writings. Just before his death, someone reportedly called the journalist’s home and said, “We have killed all journalists. Now it’s your turn.”

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A bomb planted in her car exploded
Gabrielle Marian Hulsen
Killed August 18, 1992 Ghadir, Lebanon

Gabrielle Marian Hulsen, a German freelance journalist who worked for Der Spiegel, Spiegel TV, and ZDF TV, was killed in Ghadir when a bomb planted in her car exploded.

Tortured, killed in the jungle by suspected drug traffickers
Adolfo Isuiza Urquia
Killed August 23, 1992 Juanjui, Peru

Juan Isuiza Urquia was tortured and killed in Juanjui, in the Peruvian jungle, by suspected drug traffickers. A correspondent for the Tarapoto-based Radio Tropical, Isuiza had received threats and had expressed fear about reporting from the area, which is heavily influenced by drug traffickers.

Case reopened, no convictions, body never found
Jarosław Ziętara
Disappeared September 1, 1992 Poznań, Poland

Jarosław Ziętara, a 24-year-old investigative journalist for regional daily newspaper Gazeta Poznańska, disappeared on September 1, 1992, in Poznań, western Poland. After years of delay in investigating his disappearance and suspected death, and a pressure campaign by the journalist’s family and colleagues, prosecutors reopened the investigation in 2011 and determined that Ziętara had likely been killed in connection with his reporting on corruption.  The whereabouts of Ziętara’s body remain unknown.

‘No effective investigation’ of prominent Kurdish writer’s killing
Musa Anter
Killed September 20, 1992 Diyarbakir, Turkey

Musa Anter, a prominent Kurdish writer who contributed columns to the daily Özgür Gündem and the weekly Yeni Ülke, was lured from his hotel by a telephone caller who asked him to help settle a property dispute, then later shot and killed in Diyarbakir.  His murder case was reopened in 2009, but a criminal court dropped it in September 2022.  “There was no effective investigation,” Dicle Anter, Musa’s son, said.

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A radio commentator and preacher, shot on the air
Greg Hapalla
Killed September 21, 1992 Zamboanga City, Philippines

Greg Hapalla, a radio commentator and preacher, was shot to death by three gunmen while broadcasting from DXAS Station in Zamboanga City. A radio technician and a visitor were also killed.

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A victim of civil war
Fernando Marcelino
Killed October 20, 1992 Huambo, Angola

Three gun-wielding assailants shot and killed Fernando Marcelino, a contributor to Jango magazine,  as he was arriving at the home of Dr. Davide Bernadino, the editor of Jango, in Huambo city. Marcelino was a well-known supporter of the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola. A source indicated that UNITA soldiers might have committed the killing.

A correspondent whose articles were seen as anti-Islamic
Tavakkal Faizulloev
Killed November 17, 1992 Tajikistan

Tavakkal Faizulloev, a correspondent for Subhi Yovon, a Yuvon District newspaper in Khatlon, was killed in retaliation for writing articles seen as anti-Islamic. His regional background was Kulyabi.

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Reported on Hezbollah, received death threat by phone
Namik Taranci
Killed November 20, 1992 Diyarbakir, Turkey

Namik Taranci, who worked for the leftist weekly Gercek, was attacked, shot, and killed, by two or three unidentified individuals on a street in Diyarbakir. Before his murder, Taranci reportedly received a death threat by telephone. Gercek had reported on the Shi’ite Muslim militant group Hezbollah, which some speculated was collaborating with the state in its fight against the Kurdish Workers’ Party (PKK) and PKK sympathizers.

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People’s Front said to be culprits in photojournalist’s killing
Mukhtor Bugdiev
Killed December 1992 Dushanbe, Tajikistan

Mukhtor Bugdiev, a photojournalist with the state-run Khovar Information Agency, was killed in December 1992 in Dushanbe by members of the Peoples’ Front, according to local Tajik journalists. He was Pamiri, an ethnic minority group that faced discrimination in the country.

Ethnic minority journalist reported killed by People’s Front
Filolisho Khilvatshoev
Killed December 1992 Tajikistan

Filolisho Khilvatshoev, of Payomi Dushanbe, was killed by members of the People’s Front, according to local journalists. He was a Pamiri, an ethnic minority group that faced discrimination in the country.

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1 of 4 ethnic minority journalists killed in 1992
Jamshed Davliyatmamatov
Killed December 1992 Dushanbe, Tajikistan

Davliyatmamatov, a correspondent for the state-run Khovar Information Agency, was murdered by members of the People’s Front, according to local journalists. He was a Pamiri, an ethnic minority group that faced discrimination in the country.

Tajikistan State Television broadcaster killed
Khushvaht Muborakshoev
Killed December 1992 Tajikistan

Khushvaht Muborakshoev of Tajikistan State Television was killed by members of the People’s Front, according to local journalists. He was a Pamiri, an ethnic minority group that faced discrimination in the country.

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A poet and freelance journalist murdered in his room
Youcef Sebti
Killed December 27, 1992 El Harrach, Algeria

Youcef Sebti, a poet and freelance journalist, was murdered at night in his room at the National Institute for Agronomy in El Harrach, where he taught and resided. He was found the next morning with his throat slit and, according to one report, two bullets in his abdomen. Sebti frequently contributed to Algerian publications, including the independent daily El-Watan.