The International Press Institute (IPI), the global network of editors, media executives and leading journalists, strongly condemns the fatal attack on U.S. journalist and author Steven Vincent by unidentified gunmen in Iraq.

According to information before IPI, Vincent and his Iraqi translator Nouriya Ita’is were abducted at gunpoint by five men in a police car in the southern city of Basra on 2 August. Vincent’s body was found several hours later on the side of a highway leading out of the city. He had been shot several times in the head and chest. His translator, Ita’is, was shot four times and remains in critical condition.

Vincent had been in Basra for several months carrying out research for a book on Basra and reporting for The New York Times and the Christian Science Monitor. On 30 July, four days before his death, The New York Times published an article in which Vincent voiced strong criticism of Basra’s police forces, prompting suspicion that his brutal murder may have been in retaliation for his investigative reporting.

In the article Vincent criticised the rise of Shi’ite Islamist fundamentalism in Basra and wrote that local police forces were being infiltrated by Shia militants. He quoted a top Iraqi police lieutenant as saying that some officers were responsible for the deaths of former Baath party members in Basra.

Speaking about this event, IPI Director Johann P. Fritz said “It is imperative that an investigation into Vincent’s murder begin immediately so that those who are responsible for his death do not go unpunished.”

“Iraq continues to be the most dangerous country in the world in which to work as a journalist. The rising death toll of journalists there raises great concern for the safety and security of media workers who are dedicated to reporting on the ongoing conflict in Iraq.”