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Berlin (dpa) - At least 50 people were killed this year because of their work in journalism - so nothing has improved significantly compared to the previous year.
"The vast majority of them were deliberately murdered because they researched topics such as corruption, organized crime or environmental degradation," said the organization Reporters Without Borders (RSF) in its published "Annual Report on Freedom of the Press 2020".
«Several were killed while reporting on demonstrations.
The most dangerous countries for media professionals this year were Mexico, Iraq, Afghanistan, India and Pakistan. "
In total, at least 937 people have been killed because of or in the course of their journalistic work in the past ten years.
In 2019 there were 53.
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«In addition, hundreds (...) of journalists worldwide died of or with Covid-19.
How many of them had been infected with the novel corona virus as a result of their work cannot be determined, "said Reporters Without Borders.
The virus killed at least three due to a lack of medical care after they believed to have contracted prisons in Egypt, Russia and Saudi Arabia.
"With the execution of Ruhollah Sam in Iran on December 12th, the death penalty was carried out on a media worker for the first time in 30 years."
Two of the at least 50 people killed around the world were women.
According to the organization, Mexico remains the most dangerous country for media professionals with eight people killed.
“Those who research the links between drug cartels and politics are particularly at risk.
Some of the most recent murders are particularly brutal: the body of a newspaper journalist was found decapitated;
that of an online journalist. "
In Iraq, where six media representatives died, strangers shot dead several people who reported on demonstrations.
"Others were murdered on the street without anyone being punished or even seriously investigated," reported RSF.
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"In Afghanistan, too, those responsible for the attacks, with which at least five media workers were murdered in 2020, remained unknown."
The situation there is threatening not least for women.
This was made clear by the murder of a TV presenter who had also campaigned for better protection for women in the media.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 201229-99-837968 / 2
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