53 journalists killed in 2000

More than 50 journalists were killed worldwide in 2000, according to the Paris-based World Association of Newspapers (WAN).

Although an improvement on the 71 killed in 1999, WAN said that a higher proportion were being killed in their own homes or offices instead of in open warfare. This was a 'disturbing trend', WAN said, as many appeared to be retributive attacks.

In comparison, only 28 journalists were killed in 1998 and 26 in 1997.

Overall, Colombia and Russia appear to be the most dangerous countries for journalists. Ten died in Colombia in 2000, and six in Russia.

WAN has published details of most of the killings on its website; a high proportion appear to have been murdered by hit-men.

In Sri Lanka in October the reporter Mailvaganam Nimalaranjan died after being shot in his study by unidentified attackers. After the murder the assailants threw a grenade into the living room of his house injuring both his parents and his 11-year-old nephew.

In the same month the editor of the online crime newsletter Neighbourhood News - James Edwin Richards - was shot in the Venice area of Los Angeles. Although no witnesses or clear motives were identified, his friends and colleagues believe Richards may have been targeted because of his investigations into local crime.

One month earlier Iksander Khatloni, a reporter for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), was attacked in his Moscow apartment and was struck twice in the head with an axe. He died later in a local hospital. At the time of his death, Mr Khatloni was known to be working on stories about the Russian military's human rights abuses in Chechnya.

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