IFJ fazed by method to end crisis

BRUSSELS, JUNE 2. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) today criticised the use of police posing as reporters to lure out and critically injure a mentally disturbed man who had been holding 25 children and three teachers as hostage.

All the hostages were released unharmed, and the hostage taker, believed to be of Tunisian origin demanding safe passage to Libya, was shot in the head, but was today reported out of danger.

The Tunisian gunman was shot in the face at point blank range with a gun concealed inside a camera. A child and an adult hostage were with the gunman at the time of the shooting but were not injured.

Negi Bejoui (39), had been lured out with promises of a television interview, a ruse designed to exploit his appetite for media coverage.

Special elite Luxembourg police units lured the man out of the day care centre in Wasserbillig where he was holding the hostages. Once in the open, they shot him.

``The use of these tactics is very disturbing,'' said the IFJ president, Mr. Aidan White. ``The consequences could be that in a genuine interview the lives of journalists could be put to a risk.''

``We think criminal cases should be dealt with properly,'' he said, ``but not by passing police off as journalists.'' Mr. White said the IFJ and journalists in Luxembourg would look into the Wasserbillig incident.

- AFP

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Section  : International
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