Condolences from Mohammadreza Norouzpour Following the Martyrdom of Amal Khalil, Journalist of Lebanon’s Al-Akhbar Newspaper
According to the CinemaDrame news agency, Mohammadreza Norouzpour, Deputy Minister for Media Affairs and Advertising at Iran’s Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, issued a message of condolence over the death of Amal Khalil, a journalist for Lebanon’s Al-Akhbar newspaper, and condemned Israel’s targeted attack on journalists in southern Lebanon.
In his message, Mohammadreza Norouzpour, Deputy Minister of Media Affairs and Advertising, referring to the terrorist attack by Israel on the location of journalists in southern Lebanon—which led to the death of Amal Khalil and the injury of her media colleague Zainab Faraj—stated:
“The Zionist regime has added another page to its dark and disgraceful record of targeting journalists; a record filled with the killing of civilians, blatant violations of international law, assaults on media freedom, and the targeting of those whose only weapon is the narration of truth.”
He added that the martyrdom of Amal Khalil, a journalist for Al-Akhbar and one of the well-known field reporters documenting the suffering of people in southern Lebanon, represents another example of a dangerous and repeated pattern by the regime: eliminating witnesses, silencing independent narratives, and preventing the truth of crimes from being seen.
Norouzpour continued that Amal Khalil had for years documented the lives, resistance, suffering, and steadfastness of the people of southern Lebanon against aggression. She reported from the heart of the field—about destroyed homes, families trapped under rubble, and people demanding their right to life and dignity in the face of occupation, threats, and attacks. He said the deliberate killing of such a journalist is an assault on the collective memory of a nation and a direct attack on the spirit of journalism and the free flow of information.
He stated that a regime that targets journalists is afraid of the truth, adding that what is happening in southern Lebanon and the borders of occupied Palestine is not only a war against aggression and occupation, but also a war against narrative, awareness, and human conscience. This crime, he said, once again shows that the Zionist regime chooses bullets and fire over answers in the face of truth and justice.
He called on all press organizations, media unions, defenders of free expression, independent journalists, and awakened consciences around the world not to remain silent in the face of such a dangerous trend, emphasizing that silence over the assassination of journalists means normalizing crimes against truth.
Norouzpour concluded by offering condolences to Khalil’s family, the management and staff of Al-Akhbar, the Lebanese media community, and all free journalists, while wishing health and recovery for her colleague Zainab Faraj. He stated that her path—defending truth and documenting the suffering of the Lebanese people—will undoubtedly continue.
