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by
Robert
Russell
IRFAN HUSSEIN: CAR JACKERS or JACKALS
OF ALL TRADES?
A Cartoonists Rights Network ìAlertî
late in December brought us up to date on the case of murdered
Cartoonist Irfan Hussein. Earlier in December Dr. Mrs. Munira
Hussein told CRN that she had just returned from a trip to New
Delhi where she met with police officials. They discussed breaking
events concerning the case of her husband Irfan. Last March,
Irfan Hussein, editorial cartoonist in New Delhi was killed under
mysterious circumstances on his way home from work.
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Cartoonists in trouble:
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The police have always maintained that
he died as a result of a car jacking
gone wrong.
The police had captured a car jacking
gang who claimed credit for the
killing. They said that Irfan had ìinsulted themî
during the car jacking so
they killed him. Showing police where they had thrown away Irfanís
hand bag,
police found it where they said it would be.
For the police, this seemed to be enough
to close the case. However, Dr.
Hussein pointed out to Cartoonists Rights Network that there
were still
significant inconsistencies that needed clarification before
she could put
the issues of how and why to her husband's murder to rest. First,
an
anonymous caller had claimed credit for killing Irfan days before
his body
was ever found. Second, crank calls to the Hussein household
started just
after he disappeared, continued for days, but ended abruptly
an hour after
his body was found but before police released any news that his
body had been
found. As well, another journalist had been murdered in Delhi
in the month
preceding Irfanís death, her body suffering almost the
exact same wounds as
Irfanís. The ìMOsî were the same. The other
journalist was murdered in her
home: no car jacking was involved.
When the police reconcile or even address
these outstanding features of the
case, then Cartoonists Rights Network and Dr. Hussein will gain
confidence in
the police's commitment to getting to the bottom of the case.
CRN was able to send a modest sum to
Mrs. Hussein as a result of the
auctioning of one of his cartoons at this year's annual Cartoons
and
Cocktails event in Washington, DC.
On
March 13, his mutilated body was found on the side of a road
in an area that sees one or two dumped bodies a weekly basis.
He had been stabbed 28 times, strangled and his throat had been
slashed. His car, phone and personal jewelry were gone. After
his kidnapping, but before his body had been found, the wife
of another Delhi cartoonist received a phone call informing her
that Irfan was dead, and that her husband (a cartoonist with
the National Herald in Delhi) was next. The caller identified
himself as from the Shiv Sena political movement. To date, the
police have no firm leads and of course, no arrests. At first
they tried to portray the crime as a simple carjacking, but later
backed away from this position under the influence of the evidence.
Irfan
was the third journalist killed under mysterious circumstances
this year, and since his death, another investigative journalist
was killed in Delhi. The other threatened cartoonist has been
given armed protection by his newspaper.
Cartoonists
Relief Network will be meeting with the staff of the Embassy
of India in order to communicate our concern for the safety of
journalists in India.
Cartoonists
Relief Network has set up a fund for Irfan's family, as has Outlook
Magazine in Delhi. If you can, please send something to help
the family defray his funeral costs, and keep them going until
they can recover from the terrible trauma. Irfan was not known
as a troublesome cartoonist, but journalists in India are at
an impasse when trying to predict the motives for most of these
attacks.
Your
comments are welcome and, if and as appropriate, will be passed
on to Irfan's family. Send to: mayte6@aol.com. , subject: Comments,
Irfan's Killing.
Please send a gesture for Irfan's family
to: Robert Russell, Cartoonists Relief Network , #308 1111 Arlington
Blvd Arlington, VA 22209 --earmarked for "Irfan". Everyone
will get a receipt.
Source
Agencies:
Committee to Protect Journalists
Reporters sans Frontieres
International Federation of Journalists
International Freedom of Expression Clearing House
Human Rights Watch
Amnesty International
World Association of Newspapers
The NEWSEUM
And other human rights organizations that cannot now be mentioned.
Your suggestions
and comments are appreciated. E-mail Robert Russell
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