Shifa Gardi
Shifa Gardi (Kurdish:Şîfa Gerdî, Arabic:شفاء كردي)(July 1, 1986 - February 25, 2017)[1] also known as Shifa Zikri Ibrahim, was a Kurdish journalist for the Kurdish Rudaw Media Network in Iraq. She died in a roadside bomb explosion while reporting on the Iraqi advance into Mosul.[2][3] When she died, Gardi was speaking to Shiite commander Hashd al-Shaabi beside a huge hole where ISIS militants dumped the bodies of people they killed. Al-Shaabi's feet caught in a wire, which made the bomb explode. Gardi, commander al-Shaabi, and four fighters were killed. Gardi's cameraman Younis Mustafa and seven fighters were wounded.[1]
Ranja Jamal, a Rudaw journalist who is embedded with the Iraqi army was with Gardi when she died. He said she was looking for the deep hole called "Mosul’s Valley of Death", or Al Khafsa, where ISIS threw hundreds of people. The hole is in a valley south of the Mosul near a village called Al Athba. According to the Islamic State's doctrine, Muslims who oppose the group or fighters who leave the group cannot be buried in Muslim cemeteries.[4] Al Athba is 20 kilometers south of Mosul and five kilometers from the main Baghdad-Mosul road. Gardi had information about the valley but she was not able to find it. On her way back, she met a Popular Mobilization Forces or Al-Hashd Al-Sha'abi group, and they took her to the place.[1]
Life
Gardi was born a refugee in 1986 in the town of Urmia Zêwe, Iran. In 2006, she graduated from Computer Technical Institute. In 2013, she graduated from the media department at Salahaddin University. In 2006, she started her career in media and worked as a teacher. From 2007 to 2010 she worked as a journalist. Gerdi was with the Rûdaw Media Group from its beginning. At the beginning of the Mosul offensive she started a program titled “Focus Mosul”. Gerdi followed the events of the war by going to the front as a war correspondent.[5][6][1] Gerdi once brought a rabbit back to her office, because it was malnourished.[7] [5][8][9]
The President of Kurdistan, Massoud Barzani, sent his condolences.[10] Mesud Tek, the General Secretary Socialist Party of Kurdistan in Turkey also sent condolences.[11] Marie-Claude Bibeau, the Canadian Minister for international development, Dr. Najmaldin Karim, the governor of Kirkuk, and Falah Mustafa, head of Department of Foreign Relations of Kurdistan Regional Government all expressed their condolences.[1]
Other websites
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 UPDATED: Kurdish journalist Shifa Gardi died chasing a lead on an ISIS mass grave. Rudaw.
- ↑ Mosul battle: Kurdish reporter Shifa Gardi killed in Iraq (25 February 2017).
- ↑ استشهاد صحفية بارزة في شبكة رووداو الإعلامية بالموصل. Rudaw.
- ↑ Joumah, Khales. Visiting Mosul's Valley of Death, Where Extremists Dump Enemy Corpses. Retrieved 2017-03-13.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Însîyatîfa Rewşendbîrên Kurd: Şîfa Gerdî rûyê pak ê rojnamegeriya kurdî ye. Rudaw.
- ↑ Journalist Şifa Gerdi Killed in Explosion.
- ↑ CNN, Hamdi Alkhshali and Ray Sanchez. Kurdish reporter Shifa Gardi killed in Iraq. CNN.
- ↑ Kurdistan24. Rojnamevan Şîfa Gerdî li Mûsilê şehîd bû. Kurdistan24.
- ↑ TV journalist Shifa Gardi killed in Iraq covering battle to reclaim Mosul from ISIS (27 February 2017). Retrieved 12 March 2017.
- ↑ Nûçegîhana Rûdawê Şîfa Gerdî li Misûlê şehîd bû.
- ↑ Mesud Tek: Şîfa Xan ne şehîda yeka a rojnamevaniya Kurd e..[dead link]