Serena Shim

Serena Shim ( Arabic سيرينا علي سحيم, Serena Ali Suhaim ; Born October 10, 1985 in Detroit , Michigan ; † October 19, 2014 in Suruç , Turkey ) was an American journalist of Lebanese descent. During her reporting on the fight for Kobanê for the Iranian foreign broadcaster Press TV , she was killed under unknown circumstances.

Life

Serena Shim reported for her employer Press TV from Lebanon, Iraq, Ukraine and Turkey. She was married and had two children.

Reporting on the battle for Kobanê

Shim was in Turkey on October 11th to report on the fight for Kobanê and to investigate allegations that Turkey was supporting the terrorist militia ISIS . She stayed in Suruç , in the province of Şanlıurfa , a rural area near the Syrian border.

Espionage allegations on the part of Turkey

On October 17th, two days before her death, Shim reported that the Turkish secret service MİT had accused her of espionage.

According to Shim, this was due to their reports on the role of the Turkish government in the fight against ISIS in Kobane.

Shim filmed ISIS fighters smuggled into Syria from the Turkish border in the middle of the day . She said she saw ISIS fighters being transported in trucks with the logo of the World Food Organization and other NGOS. The United Nations World Food Program was probably meant . In a television interview, Shim said she had “nothing to hide” but was “a little concerned” that Turkish intelligence had accused her of “spying” - but that she had done nothing but her job. The video showing the news of her death and the sequence in which she reported on the threat posed by the Turkish secret service was included on a Guardian blog.

death

Shim had an accident on October 19, 2014 in a traffic accident on the way back from Suruç to her hotel. According to reports from the Turkish government-affiliated newspaper Hürriyet, the rental car that Shim drove with her cousin Judy Irish collided with a cement mixer vehicle.

Shim survived the accident and died of a heart attack after she was taken to an undisclosed location. Her cousin Judy was admitted to a Suruç hospital injured.

reporting

While Hürriyet , quoting the Turkish press agency Doğan Haber Ajansı , reports that the driver was immediately arrested, the Iranian television broadcaster Press TV declares Shim's death to be “suspicious” and claims that both the driver and the vehicle “disappeared without a trace”.

Şanlıurfa's governor İzzettin Küçük denied Press TV's coverage and described their allegations as "completely out of thin air" and as "attempts to put Turkey in a difficult position". At the same time, Governor Küçük announced a detailed statement after the investigation was concluded.

Web links

• Press TV reporter in Turkey killed in suspicious car accident at Press TV

Individual evidence

1. ↑ مفكرة النشاطات الرسمية المقررة في لبنان ليوم الاربعاء 22 تشرين الأول 2014( ar ) Sidonia News. October 22, 2014. Archived from the original on November 19, 2015. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved October 22, 2014. 
2. ^ ^{A b c} Roy Greenslade: Iranian broadcaster raises suspicions about death of reporter on Syrian border . In: The Guardian . October 20, 2014. Retrieved October 20, 2014.
3. ↑ US Journalist Working For Iranian TV Killed In Car Accident . In: Sabah . October 20, 2014. Retrieved October 20, 2014.
4. ↑ heise.de
5. ↑ ^{a b c} Iranian TV reporter killed in Turkey car crash 1 day after 'spying accusations' . Russia Today . October 20, 2014. Retrieved October 20, 2014.
6. ↑ ^{a b c} US Lebanese reporter dies in Turkey, Iranian TV calls accident 'suspicious' . In: Hürriyet Daily News . October 20, 2014. Retrieved October 20, 2014.
7. ↑ ^{a b} Press TV reporter dies in 'suspicious' car crash in Suruç . In: Today's Zaman . October 20, 2014. Archived from the original on November 29, 2014. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved October 20, 2014.