France Demands Access to Wounded Journalists in Homs, Summons Syrian Ambassador

إقرأ هذا الخبر بالعربية W460

France on Wednesday demanded access to the victims of an attack in Syria that killed a U.S. war correspondent and French photojournalist, and summoned Syria's envoy to Paris.

Syria has meanwhile denied that it was aware that the journalists had entered the country.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy said the killing of the two journalists showed that it was time for President Bashar Assad's regime to go.

"Following the information we have from Homs that a group of journalists were victims of shelling, I am asking the Syrian government to immediately stop attacks and respect its humanitarian obligations," Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said in a statement.

"I have asked our embassy in Damascus to require the Syrian authorities provide secure medical access to assist the victims with the support of the International Committee of the Red Cross," Juppe said.

He said he had also "summoned the Syrian ambassador to Paris to express these requirements and to remind him of the intolerable nature of the Syrian government's behavior."

Sarkozy said the incident showed "the importance of freedom of information".

"This shows that enough is enough, this regime must go. There is no reason why Syrians should not have the right to live their lives, to freely choose their destiny," Sarkozy said.

The United States also condemned the killings.

The deaths are "another example of the shameless brutality" of the Syrian regime, U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told AFP on Wednesday.

France identified the two Western reporters killed in Syria on Wednesday as veteran American war correspondent Marie Colvin of Britain's Sunday Times and freelance French photojournalist Remi Ochlik.

Activists said they were killed and three others wounded when forces loyal to Assad's regime shelled a makeshift media center in the Baba Amr district of Homs.

The French daily Le Figaro said one of its reporters, Edith Bouvier, had been among three journalists wounded in the same incident.

Syrian authorities later announced that they were not aware that the two journalists had entered the country, said Information Minister Adnan Mahmud.

"The authorities had no information that the two journalists had entered Syrian territory," he told AFP.

Mahmud said that he had asked "specialized authorities in Homs to look for them (Colvin and Ochlik)." He did not acknowledge whether they were dead or alive.

"The ministry urges all foreign journalists who entered Syria illegally to report to the nearest immigration office to legalise their presence," he added.

Media tycoon Rupert Murdoch, the owner of the Sunday Times, said a Syrian army shell attack killed veteran Colvin and injured her British photographer colleague Paul Conroy.

He said the company was doing all it could to recover her body.

Comments 12
Thumb benzona 22 February 2012, 14:50

Poor people. The humanitarian corridor is an obligation and necessity.

Default-user-icon Gabby (Guest) 22 February 2012, 16:51

France....he is going to kill any live journalists and take their evidence of his war crimes. Unless you start acting this will continue.

Default-user-icon Averim Ghaddosh (Guest) 22 February 2012, 16:59

The humanitarian corridor is the only remaining hope for the Sunni crazies to breathe and get arms as well as more Sunni crazy brothers in. Now we all can see that the game is over for Assad, just as Gabby, allouchi, peace, benzobna, thepatriot, aragon, slash dot dot and Dr. Samri Khashakhisho have been predicting since before they were born.

Default-user-icon Free citizen (Guest) 22 February 2012, 17:20

Really it's a desperate situation, regardless of who we support, these poor people need help

Default-user-icon afrit (Guest) 22 February 2012, 18:38

Poor Syrian people they receive weapons but not food or medicine ? A humanitarian corridor is overdue and it should be in the hand of the international red cross only
As for the 2journalist killed they are like aljazeera reporters killed in bagdad by us forces and then they were collateral damage but now cause they are killed by syrians and cause they entered illegally they are not collateral damage

Default-user-icon Murad (Guest) 22 February 2012, 19:23

Wait a minute! So these "journalists" enter the country ILLEGALLY!! They report very heavy shelling but CHOOSE to stay! Then when they get killed, the Syrian government is responsible? If these journalists were Mexicans illegally crossing into the US, their corpses would have been catapulted back to Mexico.

Thumb Marc 22 February 2012, 19:42

These Journalists were targeted by the Syrian Regime......

Default-user-icon WARNING GRAPHIC CONTENT (Guest) 22 February 2012, 22:45

Marie Colvin's last report minutes before her murder and probably the reason for her death

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nww7rRSq0x8&skipcontrinter=1

Default-user-icon Micho Kamamisho (Guest) 23 February 2012, 01:09

Whatever happened to the warriors and rebels who killed the French journalist a month or so back, and incident that France never again brought up? WHAT? Phony bastards, all of you. ALL OF YOU.

Thumb jabalamel 23 February 2012, 01:34

bravo naharnet great job removing hate speech

the filthy zionist slime scum hallucinate about "humatiarian corridor"

send your filthy militia to make one.

Thumb falanges 23 February 2012, 02:52

ya jabal get ready our militia is coming

Missing hasanzibowawa1 23 February 2012, 02:34

this article must be a joke. this cannot be right. hasan said that nothing is going on in syria incuding homs. general aoun and frangieh and little gebran and bkhil wahab have proclaimed that the violence was over 50 Tuesdays ago.