WATCH: Fellow journalist recalls last moments with murdered Al Jazeera colleague

Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh murdered by Israeli Forces. Picture: Screenshot Twitter

Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh murdered by Israeli Forces. Picture: Screenshot Twitter

Published May 11, 2022

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WARNING: THIS STORY CONTAINS GRAPHIC CONTENT

Cape Town - While the circumstances around the murder of veteran Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh remains unclear and under investigation, the media network condemned Israel’s killing and called it a ‘blatant murder’.

Al Jazeera Media Network released a statement on Wednesday, following the death of the 51-year-old journalist, who was shot in the head while covering the Israeli raids in Jenin, and said Israeli forces had assassinated her in cold blood, early on Wednesday morning.

The network further extended its condolences to Shireen’s family in Palestine, and pledged to prosecute the perpetrators legally.

“Al Jazeera Media Network condemns this heinous crime, which intends to only prevent the media from conducting their duty.

“Al Jazeera holds the Israeli government and the occupation forces responsible for the killing of Shireen. It also calls on the international community to condemn and hold the Israeli occupation forces accountable for their intentional targeting and killing of Shireen,” read the statement.

— Ahmer Khan (@ahmermkhan) May 11, 2022

News about her death has spread far and wide, with the Media Review Network South Africa also condemning the attack by the Israeli Terror Forces and called on all media platforms in the South African National editors Forum (SANEF) to condemn the senseless attack on media freedom in occupied Palestine.

“We call upon media houses to be acutely aware of the Zionist propaganda machine attempting to sanitise the gravity of this assassination,” read the statement by the Media Review Network.

“This is undoubtedly meant to obfuscate this assassination by presenting the warped narrative that the Al Jazeera journalist was simply 'caught in the crossfire’,” it said.

The Media Review Network added that it should be noted there are no clashes in Occupied Palestine and that this that “this is a settler colonial entity occupying the land of indigenous Palestinians”.

Fellow journalist Mujahid Al Saadi recalled the moment when Shireen was shot and said she had been wearing a helmet, but the bullet was aimed under her ear.

“The occupation was adamant about killing us through snipers,” said Al Saadi.

He added that his colleague had fell to the ground wearing a press vest.

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