Famous TV comedian shot dead during kidnapping attempt in Baghdad

Reporters Without Borders today condemned the murder of Iraqi comedian and TV producer Walid Hassan, who was killed as he tried to elude a kidnapping attempt yesterday in Baghdad. The organisation also condemned the murder of newspaper reporter Luma Abdallah Al Karkhi last week in Baquba. “There is no logic to the constant killing of men and women who risk their lives every day to use the press freedom recovered after Saddam Hussein's fall,” Reporters Without Borders said. “It does not seem to matter what media they work for or what post they hold. The number of journalists and media assistants killed since the start of the war in 2003 now stands at 135.” The organisation added: “Walid Hassan lost his life while trying cheer up Iraqi TV viewers and give them a different, less tragic, perspective on the chaos surrounding them.” Hassan was the star of a weekly programme, “Caricatures,” on the privately-owned TV station Al Sharkiya, which made fun not only of the US army and Iraqi politicians but also the Sunni insurgents and Shiite militias. Under the previous regime, he took part in many arts and sports programmes on public television. His body was found with three gunshot wounds to the head in the east Baghdad neighbourhood of Yarmouk. Reporters Without Borders was told he was killed while resisting a kidnapping attempt. He was the third Al Sharkiya employee to be killed since the start of November. Aged 25, Al Karkhi was killed in the centre of Baquba (40 km north of Baghdad) on 15 November after receiving many anonymous warnings that she should leave her job with the Arabic-language daily Al-Dustour.