The Board of WAN issued a resolution at the World Newspaper Congress and World Editors Forum, the global meeting of the world’s press, condemning the killings of 10 local journalists and the kidnapping of five foreign journalists since January.

Four of the kidnapped journalists have been released. Two others -- Florence Aubenas, a senior reporter for the French daily paper Libération and her Iraqi interpreter, Hussein Hanoun Al-Saadi -- remain captive. The WAN Board called for their immediate release.`

The resolution said:

"The Board of the World Association of Newspapers, meeting at the 58th World Newspaper Congress in Seoul, Korea, from 29 May to 1 June 2005, condemns the attacks on local and foreign journalists in Iraq.

"A total of ten local journalists have been killed since January, making Iraq the most dangerous country in the world to practice journalism. In the same time period, five foreign journalists have been abducted. Four of them have been released.

"The latest killing happened on 15 May, when the journalists Najem Abed Khodair and Ahmad Adam were murdered while travelling from Baghdad to the city of Kerbala. Once the two men were identified as journalists, they were killed by a group of armed men.

"Among other Iraqi journalists who have lost their lives since the beginning of the year are Abdul-Hussein Khazal, an Iraqi correspondent for the U.S.-funded television station Al-Hurra, who was shot dead by unknown gunmen outside his home in the city of Basra on 9 February. The journalist’s three-year old son was also killed in the attack.

"On 14 March, Hussam Hilal Sarsam, an Iraqi cameraman working for a Kurdish television station in the northern city of Mosul, was gunned down by unknown assailants.

"Raeda Wazzan, a news anchor with the Iraqi state TV channel Al-Iraqiya, was kidnapped on 20 February. Her body was found riddled with bullets five days later.

"Foreign correspondents also remain at risk. Florence Aubenas, a senior reporter for the French daily paper Libération, was abducted in Baghdad with her Iraqi fixer and interpreter, Hussein Hanoun Al-Saadi, on 5 January, 2005. A video recording broadcast on 1 March showed the journalist pleading for help, and in poor physical condition. No more videotapes are known to have emerged since then.

"The Board of WAN condemns the killings of the ten Iraqi journalists and calls for an immediate and expedient investigation into their murders. The Board of WAN also condemns the inexcusable abduction and detention of foreign journalists and appeals for the immediate and unconditional release of Florence Aubenas and Hussein Hanoun al-Saadi."

The Paris-based WAN, the global organisation for the newspaper industry, defends and promotes press freedom world-wide. It represents 18,000 newspapers; its membership includes 72 national newspaper associations, individual newspaper executives in 102 countries, 11 news agencies and nine regional and world-wide press groups.

Inquiries to: Larry Kilman, Director of Communications, WAN, 7 rue Geoffroy St Hilaire, 75005 Paris France. Tel: +33 1 47 42 85 00. Fax: +33 1 47 42 49 48. Mobile in Korea (until 2 June): +82 11 9679 9721. E-mail: lkilman@wan.asso.fr.