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The Mission
Following are some examples of the assistance the Foundation has been able to provide: It honored a request for the family of Yasser Salihee, an Iraqi doctor-turned-translator. In June 2005 Salihee, an Iraqi special correspondent for the Knight-Ridder US newspaper group, was shot to death in Baghdad, apparently by a US military sniper, although there were Iraqi troops in the area at the same time who may also have been shooting. Salihee, 30, was driving alone near his home in the western Baghdad neighborhood of Amariyah when a single bullet pierced his windshield and hit him in the head. The US Army continues to investigate the incident. Salihee left a wife and young daughter, to whom the Foundation provided a donation of one thousand dollars. 2006 was an equally bloody year for the journalist trade, notable for the kidnapping of American freelancer Jill Carroll, during which her translator and friend Allan Enwiyah was brutally executed. Enwiyah, 32, who was still in the car when it was driven away by the abductors, was later found dead not far from where he had been snatched; he had been shot twice in the head, according to local sources. He left behind a wife and two small children, as well as an extended family he was also supporting. Working with the bloggers behind Iraqi in America and Treasures of Baghdad, the Foundation contibuted one thousand dollars to a fund for Enwiyah's widow. In February of that year, the triple murder of Al-Arabiya reporter Atwar Bahjat and her sound- and cameramen Khaled Mahmoud al-Falahi and Adnan Khairallah, employed by Wasan Media, shocked the world. The trio had been covering sectarian violence in Samarra, specifically the bombing of the Golden Mosque, when they were ambushed and kidnapped by two gunmen in a pickup truck, who shouted, "We want the correspondent," as they shot in the air. Despite crowd efforts to help them, the three were bundled into the truck and taken to an unknown location. Later that night, their bullet-riddled bodies were found dumped near the town of Dawr near Samarra. Bahjat's mother and sister, as well as the wives and children of al-Falahi and Khairallah, each received one thousand dollars. The Foundation also supports women in volatile regions who defy local or religous tradition and risk their lives to report on what they see happening in their countries, who work to change official policies and try to better the lives of their fellow countrywomen, and who find themselves in jeopardy for doing so. The women below, both International Women's Media Foundation (www.iwmf.org) 2005 'Courage in Journalism' award winners, were the first of many that the Foundation will be assisting, with each receiving one thousand dollars: Sumi Khan, 34, a reporter with Shaptahik 2000 (Weekly 2000) in Dhaka. Khan reports on politics, crime and corruption in one of the most dangerous countries for journalists in the world. Since 2000, nine journalists have been killed in Bangladesh and reporters are routinely harassed and beaten while trying to do their work. In 2004, Khan began receiving threatening phone calls after she published an article about local politicians and religious organizations and their ties to attacks on minority groups. The phone calls were followed by an attack against her during which she was stabbed and beaten by three unknown assailants. Khan was injured so severely that she was unable to work for three months. Most recently, she received a death threat from the student wing of the Jamaat-e-Islami fundamentalist party after her reporting tied the group to gang activity. Shahla Sherkat, 49, editorial director of Zanan (Women) in Tehran. Sherkat founded the monthly magazine in 1991, after she was dismissed from her position as editorial director at Zan-e Rouz, a government-owned weekly women’s magazine because she wanted to change the way it depicted women. The Iranian government has threatened to close Zanan many times because of the daring way the magazine covers women’s rights and feminism. Zanan faces continuing financial difficulties because it is privately owned and funded. It has also been attacked by fundamentalist gangs and Sherkat has been repeatedly summoned to court to defend the articles she chooses to publish in Zanan. In January 2001, she was fined and sentenced to prison for four months after attending a conference in Berlin where discussions on the future of political change in Iran took place. She was not required to serve the prison sentence, but was forced to pay a fine equivalent to two months' salary. Women's rights were extremely important to Steven Vincent; he wrote in Red Zone that without such rights, there could be no true democracy in Iraq, let alone anywhere in the world. The Foundation will channel financial aid to women at risk, thereby allowing them, for instance, the ability to hire a security guard, or, as in Shahla Sherkat's case, the funds to continue publishing. As time goes by and the Foundation grows, both its outreach and programs will expand. For now its initial goals are a vital use of donations, and send a valid and much-needed message to the recipients. Many dedicated, courageous and unsung media workers will forever remain unknown to us unless their lives are ended in the pursuit of truth, in which case they may get mentioned in an article or two before being swept away in the constantly changing tide of world events; we must do a better job of acknowledging the debt we owe to them, especially if they are lost because of their efforts. By 2008 the Foundation also plans to institute the yearly Steven Vincent Award for Excellence in War Correspondence, which will award $5,000.00 to the journalist who produces the most compelling and important piece or series on a military conflict within a 12-month period.
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