Freedom Forum adds two Kurdish reporters to Journalists Memorial

The 11 journalists added to the memorial this year include Saad Ahmad and Mihemed Hisen Reşo who were killed by a Turkish airstrike in northern Syria last year.

On Monday, May 4, 2020, the Freedom Forum added the stories of 11 men and women to its Journalists Memorial to represent all journalists who died or were killed while reporting the news in 2019.

The Freedom Forum’s Journalists Memorial honors journalists who lost their lives in the pursuit of truth. The 11 journalists who died in 2019 are now part of the memorial’s database, which tells the stories of 2,355 reporters, photographers, broadcasters and other media workers who died while reporting news and information, dating back to 1837.

The 11 journalists added to the memorial this year include Saad Ahmad and Mihemed Hisen Reşo who were killed by a Turkish airstrike that hit a civilian convoy in northern Syria on 13 October 2019. The convoy was traveling between the northern Syrian towns of Qamishli and Serekaniye (Ras al-Ain). Twelve civilians were killed in the attack, while 73 others, eight of them journalists, were injured.

Saad Ahmad, a Kurdish reporter for the local news agency Hawar News (ANHA) lost his life at the scene. Another Kurdish journalist, Mihemed Hisen Reşo from the Yazidi television station Çira TV, who also worked for the Kurdish television station Stêrk TV, succumbed to his injuries one day later.

The injured journalists included ANF (Fırat News Agency) correspondent Ersin Çaksu, Emre Yunis of Stêrk TV, Dilsoz Dildar of North Press Agency, freelance journalists Bircan Yıldız, Rojbin Ekin, Abdreşid Mihemed Mihemed, Rudaw correspondent Hûner Ehmed, and ANHA correspondent Mehmet Ekici.

The journalists recognized by the Freedom Forum’s Journalists Memorial this year include:

In Ghana
Ahmed Hussein-Suale Divela
Tiger Eye Private Investigations

In Haiti
Néhémie Joseph
Radio Panic FM, Radio Mega

In Honduras
Leonardo Gabriel Hernández
Valle TV

In Iraq
Hisham Fares Al-Adhami
Freelance

In Mexico
Norma Sarabia Garduza
Tabasco Hoy, Diario Presente

In Syria
Saad Ahmad
Hawar News Agency (ANHA)

Mohammed Hussein Rasho
Cira TV

In Ukraine
Vadym Komarov
Dzvin Ukraine

In the United Kingdom
Lyra McKee
Freelance

In the United States
Carley McCord
Freelance, WDSU-TV

Nancy Parker
WVUE FOX 8

RELATED NEWS: