Aljazeera Center for Public Liberties and Human Rights issued a statement on July 4th, 2022, at the  European Parliament, Strasbourg:

“Aljazeera has lost to this day twelve journalists, all of whom died during journalistic assignments in Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, the occupied land, and some other parts of the world.

From this influential platform, we repeat the demand, on behalf of the Aljazeera Media network, to release our detained colleagues in Egypt: Ahmed Al-Najdi, Hisham Abdel Aziz, Bahaa El-Din Ibrahim, and Rabie Al-Sheikh. They were all arrested while they were on vacation in Egypt. The Egyptian authorities have arrested them for months without a specific charge.

Impunity for crimes against journalists and media professionals threatens the right to know, the right to press freedom and UN human rights-based efforts to promote peace, security, and sustainable development.

The targeting and killing of journalists have escalated into a painful phenomenon that disturbs the public conscience.

Journalism is not a crime.

Killing journalists is a heinous crime.

In this context: We, at Aljazeera Center for Public Liberties and Human Rights condemn in the strongest terms the assassination of our colleague Shireen Abu Akleh, with whom we had the honor to work for twenty-five years. Shereen was killed in cold blood; She was shot in the head, even though she was wearing a vest bearing the logo of the press. Yes, she was killed while she was on a journalistic assignment covering the Jenin camp in the occupied West Bank on May 11th

Our duty today is to safeguard the safety of journalists, address the lack of thorough investigations, hold perpetrators accountable and prevent impunity.

A journalist is killed every five days according to UNESCO.

Al Jazeera Media Network has formed an international legal alliance that includes its legal team along with international legal experts, which has started preparing a complete file on the case for submission to the Public Prosecutor of the Court.

Aljazeera Media Network has assigned its legal team to refer the case of the assassination of its correspondent in Palestine, Shireen Abu Akleh, to the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court in The Hague. According to Article 8 of the Charter of the International Criminal Court, targeting war correspondents or journalists working in war zones or occupied territories is a war crime.

Today, we are in dire need to engage in a joint action that brings together organizations, states and the United Nations to strengthen mechanisms for protecting journalists, including the adoption of clear international legislation that considers killing or targeting them directly in conflict areas a war crime.”

Aljazeera Center for Public Liberties and Human Rights.