Prominent pro-democracy and civil rights advocacy group, the Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA), has condemned the Israeli Defense Forces over the unprovoked and criminal killings of three active journalists in Lebanon who were simply going about their duties reporting the war for their legitimate news organisations just as the Rights group said the war crime must be investigated by the International Court of Justice in The Hague Netherlands so the perpetrators are subjected to international criminal justice for such heinous crime of deliberate assassination of media practitioners.

“We call on the government of Israel to stop the incessant killings of journalists whilst they wage wars against their foes. The deliberate killings of reporters by the IDF is an intolerable crime which the international community must condemn just as efforts should be made for the ICJ to investigate the inexplicable killings of Lebanese journalists by the IDF so that those officers directly responsible for this dastardly and cowardly act of crimes against humanity are identified, arrested and prosecuted. We condemn these killings as absolutely appalling, despicable and reprehensible. The claim by the IDF that the journalists killed are part of Hezbollah propaganda unit doesn’t add up. This is pure act of state permitted terrorism and impunity that must never be swept under the carpets.”

HURIWA recalled that at the weekend, three Lebanese journalists were killed in a targeted Israeli strike in southern Lebanon on Saturday, their employers have said.

Ali Shoeib, a reporter for the Hezbollah-affiliated Al Manar TV, was killed in the town of Jezzine alongside reporter Fatima Ftouni and her brother, cameraman Mohamed Ftouni, both from the channel Al Mayadeen, according to the stations.

The strike reportedly hit the journalists’ car just before noon local time (10:00 GMT).

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) confirmed it had killed Shoeib, describing him as a “terrorist” from Iranian-backed Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Force who had “operated for years under the guise of a journalist”.

It said he had worked to “expose the locations of IDF soldiers operating in southern Lebanon and along the border”, including during the current fighting, and had used his position “to disseminate Hezbollah propaganda materials”.

The IDF provided no evidence to support its claim that Shoeib had a military role. It did not comment on the deaths of Fatima or Mohamed Ftouni.

Hezbollah denounced the strike as the “deliberate criminal targeting of journalists”.

“The enemy’s false claims are nothing but an expression of its weakness and fragility, and a desperate attempt to evade responsibility for this crime,” the group said in a statement on Telegram. HURIWA is shocked that journalists have continued to be assassinated during warfare without any provocation even when it is clear that they are non-combatant and therefore must never be targeted.

HURIWA said the killing of journalists are in clear violations of international humanitarian law which provisions provide existing protections under international humanitarian law just as the Rights group said governments around the world are under legal obligation not to kill media practitioners caught up in Conflicts.

HURIWA affirmed that the articles of this international law guarantee that journalists should have the accessible and transparent flow of information, specifically in global armed conflict, acts as both an informative and preventative tool regarding human rights concerns. For that reason, international humanitarian law seeks to defend the rights of journalists working in armed conflict zones. Beyond freedom of expression rights enshrined in article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, journalists have categories of protection specific to conflict zones.

The first of these protections is awarded to all civilians caught within zones of armed conflict. These protections, arising from customary international human rights civilian protections, were later codified and assented to by more than 150 countries under Protocol I relating to the Protection of Victims of International Armed Conflicts of the 1977 Additional Protocols of the Geneva Convention. Protocol I mainly surrounded the rights and protections of civilian groups within conflict zones. According to article 51(2) of the protocol, ‘individual civilians, shall not be the object of attack. Acts or threats of violence… are prohibited’. Under article 79 of the Additional Protocols, journalists fall within this class of civilian and are therefore legally entitled to protections against acts of violence. Journalists should not engage in harmful activity, that is, take a ‘direct part in hostilities’, to remain under the protection of the protocol.

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