PROSECUTORS IN Paris have opened an investigation into the death in Syria of French journalist Gilles Jacquier amid growing speculation of regime collusion in his killing.
Jacquier (43), a France 2 television reporter, was among eight people killed last Wednesday during a government-organised trip to the city of Homs, a flashpoint for protests against President Bashar al-Assad’s rule.
He was in a group of journalists being escorted in a convoy through a pro-Assad neighbourhood when he was struck by what the Syrian state news agency said was a mortar attack by “terrorists”.
That claim was called into question in Paris yesterday, where the daily Le Figaroquoted a source close to President Nicolas Sarkozy saying the timing of Jacquier's death suited "a regime that is trying to discourage foreign journalists and demonise the rebellion".
“The Syrian authorities were the only ones who knew that a group of western journalists were visiting Homs that day and in which neighbourhood they could be found,” the source said.
“We are inclined to believe this was a manoeuvre,” the source added, suggesting the Syrian authorities may be implicated in the killing, but adding that Paris had no proof of this.
France Télévisions, the state-owned news broadcaster which controls France 2, said its preliminary inquiries had revealed “troubling elements” surrounding the death of its journalist.
Editorial director Thierry Thuillier said the journalists had been travelling through Homs in a convoy with a military escort.
“When the firing started, the Syrian soldiers withdrew, leaving the journalists alone and exposed. Why? I don’t have the answer, but the newsroom, France Télévisions and the families want the answer,” Mr Thuillier said.
Protests against President Assad erupted in several Syrian cities yesterday, activists said, and the Arab League chief said he feared the unrest could degenerate into civil war.
Security forces killed a protester in the northwestern town of Idlib and a 17-year-old youth in the city of Hama, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, adding that five people were wounded when security forces fired on protesters in the town of Kafr Shams, outside Damascus.
An activist group known as the Local Co-ordination Committees put the death toll at eight. Protests also flared after Friday prayers in parts of Damascus and in the port city of Latakia. – (Reuters)