Hassan, an Iraqi reporter for the local Arabic-language television
station Al-Hurriya TV, was killed in a drive-by shooting in front
of her Baghdad residence in the city’s Adhamiya District. Hassan had
been waiting for a company car to transport her to work, station staff
told CPJ.
Hassan’s colleagues told The New York Times that the journalist
had received three letters warning her to stop working for Al-Hurriya.
A colleague who was with Hassan during the shooting told The Times
that a blue Oldsmobile with three men pulled in front of them,
then a man opened fire at Hassan with a Kalashnikov rifle. He shouted,
“Collaborator! Collaborator!” the newspaper reported.
Al-Hurriya Director Nawrooz Mohamed Fatah told CPJ that militant groups
might perceive the station as sympathetic to the United States since
its financial backer–the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan–has friendly
U.S. relations.