Al Jazeera staff members held a vigil for Shireen Abu Akleh at the network's headquarters in Doha, Qatar [Al Jazeera]
Doha, August 19 (RHC)-- Al Jazeera Media Network (AJMN) has held a series of events to mark 100 days since the killing of Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh. Thursday’s solidarity vigils took place at the network’s headquarters in the Qatari capital of Doha and across its offices around the world. Dozens of AJMN employees participated in the events.
Abu Akleh was shot dead by an Israeli sniper on May 11 while covering Israeli army raids in the city of Jenin in the northern occupied West Bank. In a statement, AJMN called on “all international human rights and press freedom organisations, governments, journalists, and influencers to focus efforts on Thursday, August 18 by demanding justice for Shireen and accountability for her killers”.
“Al Jazeera Media Network renews its pledge to Shireen’s family and colleagues around the world, that it remains committed to her cause and relentless in its efforts to ensure justice for Shireen,” the network’s statement said.
AJMN’s main commemorative event took place at the Al Jazeera Arabic studios in the Qatari capital shortly after 2pm local time (11:00 GMT). Mohamed Krichen, an Al Jazeera Arabic news anchor, said the vigil was evidence that the network would not “forget” Abu Akleh’s killing, which he described as a “crime.” “We know who did it and … we want justice,” Krichen said.
Al Jazeera has described Abu Akleh’s death as a “blatant murder” that violates “international laws and norms” and said that she was “assassinated in cold blood”. The network has pledged to submit a case to the International Criminal Court (ICC) at The Hague to investigate her killing.
Al Jazeera’s Nida Ibrahim, reporting from Jenin, said some of the veteran reporter’s colleagues in the occupied West Bank had marked the 100-day anniversary of her death by visiting the site of her shooting for the first time. “It has been very difficult, we have seen some of them crying, and others hiding their tears … there is a state of denial, and trauma,” Ibrahim said.
“So many investigations have shown there is no other possibility [other than] that Israeli forces were the ones who shot and killed Shireen, but 100 days [later] there has still been no accountability,” she added.
Walid al-Omari, Al Jazeera’s Jerusalem bureau chief, called for the pursuit of justice for Abu Akleh to continue “no matter how long it takes.” “Shireen was a daughter of Palestine and Al Jazeera, she was special in her work,” he said at a vigil held in Jenin.
