Saturday, August 07, 2010

Iran: Ahmadinejad attends ceremony to commemorate national Reporter’s Day

IRNA - President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad attended a ceremony Saturday to commemorate the national Reporter’s Day.

August 8 marked the anniversary of the martyrdom of IRNA correspondent Mahmoud Saremi in Afghanistan in 1998 when Taliban fighters occupied the Iranian consulate in Mazari Sharif.

Saremi was working as the head of the IRNA office in Afghanistan when he and eight Iranian diplomats were brutally killed by Taliban fighters

Saremi's day of death (17 Mordad in the Iranian calendar) is named Reporter's Day in Iran and is remembered by holding special ceremonies which are attended by senior Iranian officials.

Families of the Iranian reporters and media staff who had so far become martyred or killed during news missions are also attending the ceremony.

For personal comment see: Mike Hitchen Unleashed -Ahmadinejad hails and jails