72 journalists killed in one year by 'caliphate state'

A year has passed since the "Islamic caliphate" was declared by the Islamic State group. During this time, IS has committed an untold number of human rights violations - including kidnapping and killing many journalists.

These violations against journalists increased after the announcement of the caliphate, in what seems to have been an IS strategy to exploit journalists in order to deliver political messages.

Estimates indicate that 72 journalists have been killed since 29 June, 2014.

Accurate statistics are difficult to get hold of in areas controlled by IS, specifically in Iraq and Syria, because of the media blackout that the organisation has imposed and the repression that journalists and workers in the media confront there.

The different strategies and conditions laid down by organisations that defend the rights of journalists have led to varying statistics concerning this matter.

In Syria, IS killed 27 journalists, including three foreigners, in 2014, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Another six journalists were killed in Syria since the beginning of 2015.

Accurate statistics are difficult to get hold of in areas controlled by IS, specifically in Iraq and Syria.

Some of the most prominent cases were the execution of US journalist Jim Foley on 19 August, 2014, followed by the execution of US journalist Steven Sotloff in September and Japanese journalist Kenji Goto in January 2015.

Democracy Now's website said that Sotloff was the 70th journalist to be killed by IS.

In Iraq, the Journalistic Freedoms Observatory has reported that 34 reporters and photojournalists were killed by IS between May 2014 and May 2015. Most of the journalists were killed while covering the battles for liberating Iraq from IS.

Raad al-Azzawi, Qais Talal, and Thaer al-Ali were three journalists executed by the armed group.

According to Reporters Without Borders, Muhannad al-Akidi was also one of the journalists killed by IS. However, Journalistic Freedoms Observatory has reported that the organisation still holds him in prison.

In Libya, IS declared that five journalists who worked for Libya TV - four Libyans and one Egyptian - were killed.

Two Tunisian journalists, Sofiane Chourabi and Nadhir Ktari were also killed in Libya, IS claimed in January.

However, this has not been confirmed and there has been no other information about their fates.

According to Reporters Without Borders, IS kidnapped 20 journalists in Syria, but the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights puts the number at 62 or more.

In Iraq, the Journalistic Freedoms Observatory says that the number of Iraqis detained by the organisation has exceeded 27.