The family of American journalist Marie Colvin, who died in Syria in 2012, has filed a wrongful death lawsuit in a US court. They accused the Syrian government of deliberately killing her.
Image: AP
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The lawsuit said Syrian officials deliberately targeted rockets against a makeshift broadcast studio where Colvin and other reporters were living and working. The lawsuit, first reported in "The New York Times," said the attack was part of a plan to silence local and international media "as part of its effort to crush political opposition." It also claimed the killing was orchestrated at the highest levels of the Syrian government.
According to the documents filed at a US district court in Washington, the Syrian military had intercepted Colvin's communications before unleashing rocket fire on her position in the besieged city.
Award-winning US journalist Marie Colvin and French photographer Remi Ochlik were killed in the Syrian city of Homs in 2012 while reporting on the Syrian conflict. Colvin was reporting for the Sunday edition of the London "Times" at the time. British photographer Paul Conroy, French reporter Edith Bouvier, and Syrian media defender Wael al-Omar were wounded in the same attack.
'Bracketing'
Filed on behalf of Colvin's sister Cathleen Colvin and other surviving family members, the lawsuit is reportedly based on information gathered from captured government documents and defectors. It names several Syrian officials, including President Bashar al-Assad's brother Maher.
French photographer Remi Ochlik was killed in the same attackImage: picture-alliance/dpa
It states that after an informant had confirmed Colvin's presence at the site, Syrian artillery units launched rockets and mortars directly at the media center. "Using a targeting method called 'bracketing,' multiple rockets were launched to either side of the media center, drawing closer with each round," the lawsuit states.
Colvin, 56, had covered many of the conflicts of the past three decades. The Britain-based journalist wore a black eye-patch after losing an eye in a grenade blast while reporting on Sri Lanka's civil war in 2001.
Reporters Without Borders support
The journalism advocacy group Reporters Without Borders said it supported the lawsuit.
Christophe Deloire, secretary-general of Reporters Without Borders, said the group hoped the efforts would help to expose the truth, "namely that these journalists were deliberately targeted and killed because they were providing information about the Syrian army's crimes against civilians."
8 films featuring journalists' fight for freedom of expression
On World Press Freedom Day (3.5.2016) we're honoring those journalists who've fought for their right to freedom of expression by looking at eight films telling their stories.
Image: Bild: BR/Wiedemann & Berg Film
Razor's Edge
The 2016 winner of Deutsche Welle's Best of the Blogs (The Bobs) prize for citizen journalism, the documentary "Razor's Edge" examines the situation that many secular bloggers and writers face in Bangladesh after attacks have left numerous people dead at the hands of religious extremists, including four in the last five weeks, because of their writing.
Image: Nastiker Dharmakatha
Frame By Frame
"Frame By Frame" follows four of Afghanistan's new crop of young photojournalists, who're learning how to shoot stories after years of living under a regime which banned photography. After a screening at the US Embassy in Kabul, seven journalists from the local TOLO news were killed in a suicide bombing, driving home the dangers these journalists face every day.
Image: Film Fprout
All the President's Men
Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein were two journalists working for the "Washington Post" who led the investigation of US President Richard Nixon's role in the Watergate hotel break-in that eventually led to his resignation. The pair wrote of their experience in "All the President's Men" which was made into a film by Robert Redford.
Image: Warner Bros./dapd
Good Night and Good Luck
Filmed in black and white to capture the atmosphere of broadcast journalism's early days "Good Night and Good Luck" stars George Clooney and focuses on tv newsman Edward R. Murrow's fight to expose the tactics employed in the US by Senator Joseph McCarthy in his 1953 "Red Scare" campaign to uncover "Communists" in the government and celebrity circles, a label which ruined many careers at the time.
Image: Kinowelt
People vs. Larry Flynt
The lawsuit by Reverend Jerry Falwell against Larry Flynt, the publisher of the nude magazine "Hustler" serves as the backdrop of the 1996 film the "People vs. Larry Flynt." The film about the controversial pornography publisher shows his clash with religious institutions and the law.
Image: dpa
Forbidden Voices
Three young women bloggers are the focus of Zurich-based director Barbara Miller's documentary (2012). From Cuba, China and Iran respectively, Yoani Sánchez, Zeng Jinyan und Farnaz Seifi use social media to bring awareness to the world about life under the dictatorial regimes in their homelands. Their work gets so much attention that they end up risking their lives to get the stories out.
Image: Das Kollektiv
Burma VJ
Danish Filmmaker Anders Østergaard focuses on the drama that unfolded in Burma in 2007 after Buddhist nuns and monks took to the streets to protest drastic price increases. After the protests turned against the country's military leaders, international news teams were kicked out of the country and filming could only be done in secret.
Image: flickr/Steve Rhodes
Die Spiegel Affaire (The Spiegel Affair)
Germany's "Der Spiegel" news magazine published an article about the sad state of the West German military in 1962, an article which brought out such an immense rage in Defense Minister Franz Josef Strauß that a search of the magazine's office was conducted. The arrests of editors led to an uproar among citizens who saw it as an attack on press freedom and protested, as this ARD film portrays.
