Frédéric Nérac (1960 – unknown, declared dead 21 October 2005) was a
French
French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to France
** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents
** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
journalist, reported missing in
Iraq since 22 March 2003. On 21 October 2005 he was officially declared
dead in absentia, though no body has been found.
Background
Frédéric Nérac was covering the
Invasion of Iraq for the UK-based
ITN
Independent Television News (ITN) is a UK-based television production company. It is made up of two divisions: Broadcast News and ITN Productions. ITN is based in London, with bureaux and offices in Beijing, Brussels, Jerusalem, Johannesburg, N ...
television network as an unembedded
journalist, as opposed to journalists "embedded" with US or UK military units.
On 22 March 2003, in
Bassora
Basra ( ar, ٱلْبَصْرَة, al-Baṣrah) is an Iraqi city located on the Shatt al-Arab. It had an estimated population of 1.4 million in 2018. Basra is also Iraq's main port, although it does not have deep water access, which is han ...
, two ITN vehicles were captured in
crossfire between US and Iraqi forces. One of the vehicles, carrying
Terry Lloyd and
Daniel Demoustier, was destroyed. The second vehicle, carrying Nérac, apparently managed to escape to cover, and disappeared. British forces and French officials investigated the area; US authorities were reported to be unhelpful in the search.
On 21 October 2005, Nérac was declared dead by the French
Ministry of Foreign Affairs In many countries, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is the government department responsible for the state's diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral relations affairs as well as for providing support for a country's citizens who are abroad. The entit ...
. In 2006, citing an anonymous diplomatic source, Georges Malbrunot said that he believed that Nérac had been executed by
Ba'athists
Ba'athism, also stylized as Baathism, (; ar, البعثية ' , from ' , meaning "renaissance" or "resurrection" Hans Wehr''Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic'' (4th ed.), page 80) is an Arab nationalist ideology which promotes the creation ...
and buried in the
Az Zubayr
Az Zubayr ( ar, الزبير) is a city in and the capital of Al-Zubair District, part of the Basra Governorate of Iraq. The city is just south of Basra. The name can also refer to the old Emirate of Zubair.
The name is also sometimes written Al ...
cemetery.
See also
*
List of people who disappeared
Lists of people who disappeared include those whose current whereabouts are unknown, or whose deaths are unsubstantiated. Many people who disappear are eventually declared dead ''in absentia''. Some of these people were possibly subjected to enfo ...
References
External links
Web site about the disappearance of Frédéric Nérac
Eighteen months after Fred Nérac went missing in Iraq, Reporters Without Borders urges the UK to hand its inquiry report to the family and French authorities
Reporters sans frontières.
Two Missing ITV Journalists Were Killed By US Troops
by Tom Newton Dunn, ''The Mirror''.
1960 births
2000s missing person cases
2005 deaths
French male non-fiction writers
French reporters and correspondents
Journalists killed while covering the Iraq War
Missing person cases in Iraq
People declared dead in absentia
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