Alaa Abdulkareem Fartusi

Alaa Abdulkareem Fartusi (4 August 1978 – 10 February 2008) was an Iraqi journalist for Al Forat, a Shiite-backed satellite news station.^[1]

Career

Fartusi had worked as a camera man for Al Forat for two years prior to his death in 2008.^[2] Fellow Al Forat reporter Ahmed Mehdi said of him:

Apart from being a colleague, he was a very good friend. He was always optimistic, always happy. If there was sadness, he would be the one smiling trying to console everyone. We miss him as a friend more than anything else.^[2]

Death

Main article: 2008 Balad bombing

Fartusi was part of a crew traveling to Samarra for a story commemorating the 2nd anniversary of the February 2006 bombing of the Golden Mosque, one of the holiest Shiite sites in Iraq. On 10 February 2008, while travelling to Samarra, a roadside bomb was detonated, killing Fartusi and the driver of the vehicle in which he was travelling. According to Mehdi, Fartusi and his team were probably not targeting ^{[clarification needed]} the station.^[2] The first journalist killed in Iraq in 2008, Fartusi was survived by his wife and two children.^[2]

References

1. "Alaa Abdul-Karim al-Fartoosi". Committee to Protect Journalists. 29 January 2008. Retrieved 13 March 2013.
2. Bomb kills Iraqi cameraman, Los Angeles Times. Accessed 1 November 2023.