Assassinated: Part I - Men Silenced

On January 19, 2007 Hrant Dink, a Turkish-Armenian journalist and editor, was killed by a young male on the streets of Istanbul in broad daylight. Outside the newspaper offices where he worked, Dink's body was covered by a white sheet and blood trail visible to the public.


Dink wrote a weekly column at Agos, a Turkish newspaper. Dink spoke out about the 1915 massacre of Armenians in which he claimed Turkish government refuse to recognize as genocide. In the months leading up to his assassination, Dink received multiple death threats and wrote about the fear he was living with in his final column.



Assassinated for Ideas

Dink's life was taken by the hands of a radical, a person who built up enough hate to kill him. He was first assassination of 2007, adding him to a long list of people killed for sharing their ideas and opinion.

Wikipedia has a list of people assassinated throughout history. The list is full of political figures including presidents, prime ministers, leaders of political parties, celebrities and, more recently, journalists. On that list are many individuals whose words and ideas could have prevented war, inspired peace and become legendary. Rather, they are known for their death and as victims of extreme measures of hate.

Mahatma Gandhi

Almost 60 years ago, on January 30, 1948 Gandhi was shot dead at point blank range by Nathuram Godse, an activist with a Hindu nationalist organization. Gandhi lived through his political visions of truth and non-violence, derived from strong spiritual and religious views. He condemned both World Wars and taught his followers his founding principles.

"There are many causes that I am prepared to die for but no causes that I am prepared to kill for". - Gandhi

Praised by many, Ghandi's killing came as a shock to the public. One of his biggest followers and first Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru, broadcasted this message on All India Radio on the day Ghandi was shot.

On January 31, 2007, Muni Jaitly, a young journalist sat down with his grandfather for CBCNews.com to talk about the assassination. Shri Dharam Jit Jigyasu was 33 when Gandhi was shot. By Jit Jigyasu's side at the public prayer was Godse, who, after bowing down and praising Gandhi, shot him three times. Jit Jigyasu says he held Gandhi in his arms as he died. See the interview below.




Inejiro Asanuma

Inejiro Asanuma was the Chairman of Japan's Socialist Party in 1960 when on October 12, 17-year-old Otoya Yamaguchi stabbed him while giving a speech.

Inejiro was famous for speaking publicly about Socialism and economic and cultural opportunities. The footage of Yamaguchi's initial stabbing was later broadcast on national television and caused a strong rift between left and right wing politicians (see below).



Newspaper photographer Yasushi Nagao snapped the photo below as Yamaguchi withdrew the blade from his second stab. In 1961, Nagao won the Pulitzer Prize for the photograph.


Anwar Al Sadat

On October 6, 1981 during a victory parade in Cairo, Egyptian soldiers in a troop truck stopped in front of the Presidential stand. Sadat stood to receive his salute as air force jets flew overhead but instead, soldiers from inside the truck, emerged and threw grenades and fired rounds in Sadat's direction. Lead assassin, Khalid Islambouli, shouted "Death to Pharaoh!" as he ran towards the presidential stand and shot Sadat in the head. Seven others were killed in the attack as well as two of the attackers.






The soldiers were supporters of an Egyptian Islamist group who were against Sadat's peace talks with Israel. Sadat, since his presidential inception in 1970, sought for peace with Israel. However, after Israel refused to withdraw the land it captured during the six-day war, Sadat bulked up the Egyptian army and, along with Syria, surprise-attacked Israel on October 6, 1973 by crossing the cease-fire lines.

Sadat's initial victories restored Egyptian morale and renewed the nation's political significance. In November 1977, Sadat became the first Arab leader to visit Israel and met with prime minister Menachem Begin to again discuss a permanent peace settlement between Egypt and Israel.


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Tomorrow Dead Sea Media will bring you Assassinated: Part II - Presidents Killed. We will take a closer look at the murder of JFK and it's effects to mainstream media.