UNESCO Condemns Assassination Of Lebanese Editor

UNESCO Condemns Assassination Of Lebanese Newspaper Editor Tueni

Continuing its campaign against the killing of journalists, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) today deplored the car bomb attack in Beirut that killed four people including Gebran Tueni, the publisher and editor of the Lebanese newspaper An Nahar.

“The global press community has lost one of its great defenders,” UNESCO Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura said in a statement.

“Mr. Tueni’s death is a terrible loss not only for his family, friends and colleagues, but for the cause of freedom of expression and press freedom in the Middle East,” he added, voicing concern over the increasing number of attacks on Lebanese journalists and politicians this year.

According to the International Press Institute (IPI), there have been at least 14 bomb attacks in Beirut since the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in February. Mr Tueni is the second An Nahar journalist killed this year. A third Lebanese reporter lost her leg in a car bomb explosion.

Mr. Matsuura’s statement was the latest in a long series of condemnations he has issued recently over attacks on journalists around the world. UNESCO’s mandate includes the defence of freedom of expression and press freedom.

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