Journalists more at risk than ever, says Amal Clooney

Human rights lawyer Amal Clooney yesterday accused world leaders of failing to protect journalists and giving ‘a collective shrug’ over the killing of Saudi writer Jamal Khashoggi. Ms Clooney, the government’s envoy on media freedom, said that ‘journalists are under attack like never before’. According to the United Nations cultural body Unesco 99 media workers were killed last year. Addressing an audience of politicians, officials, activists and journalists, Ms Clooney said: ‘The vast majority of these murders go unpunished,’ adding ‘world leaders responded with little more than a collective shrug’ to Khashoggi’s killing by agents close to the Saudi crown prince. The Washington Post columnist died inside Saudi Arabia’s consulate in Istanbul last year. She also criticised US president Donald Trump as a leader ‘who vilifies the media’. Ms Clooney was speaking at the Global Conference for Media Freedom in London, co-hosted by foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt and Canadian foreign minister Chrystia Freeland. Ghanaian investigative journalist Anas Aremeyaw Anas, hiding his face to remain anonymous, also spoke. Source: Metro.news