The death of journalist Hamed Sarha took the six month death toll to one hundred

2007 looks set to become the deadliest year yet for journalists with news that one hundred media workers were killed in the first six months of 2007, according to the International News Safety Institute.

The 100th death came last week when Hamed Sarha, a 30-year-old working for Iraq’s national news agency, was shot by a group of unidentified gunmen in the south of the country. Sarha had worked for various media outlets for over 30 years and is survived by his wife and five children.

Iraq is by far the most dangerous country for journalists, accounting for 36 out of the 100 deaths, making the conflict near impossible to cover.

The most disturbing fact from the report is that 72 of the fatalities worldwide appear to have been murders. INSI director Rodney Pinder said, “This is a shocking development. We have never known such a high death toll halfway through a year, and we fear for what might be to come.”

After Iraq, the countries where journalists are most at risk are Afghanistan (5 deaths), Haiti and the Philippines (4 each), Somalia, Palestine and India (3 each) and Sri Lanka, Mexico and Brazil (2 each).

If you are a journalist looking to work in one of the conflict areas we cover then please get in touch and we may be able to point you in the right direction to find a reliable local contact. Email Lucy Ashken, the Project Manager, at lucy@peacedirect.org