Media Watchdog Condemns Death Of Turkish Journalist In Iran

Demonstrators at a women's rights rally in Tehran on June 12 that was violently broken up (kosoof.com)

PRAGUE, August 11, 2006 (RFE/RL) -- The Paris-based Reporters Without Borders (RSF) media watchdog is demanding that Iranian authorities shed light on the death of an ethnic Kurd Turkish journalist killed reportedly killed on July 24 in an operation against Kurdish militants.

Ayfer Serce was a reporter for Turkey's Euphrates News Agency and Western-based Kurdish media. Serce, also known as Silan Aras, was in Iran's West Azerbaijan Province to investigate suicides among women in the region when she was killed.

RSF condemns the death of the journalist and says the possibility that her death is linked to her work should not be ignored. The Euphrates News Agency has blamed the Iranian military for Serce's death.