BAGHDAD: One of Iraq's best known satirists and broadcasters was gunned down on his way to work on Monday, his colleagues and the police said.
Waleed Hassan's "Caricature" sketch show was an inseparable part of weekend Fridays for Iraqis seeking a release in laughter from the blood and chaos around them. Hassan poked fun at sectarian violence, bickering politicians, power blackouts and all aspects of the turmoil that is daily life in Iraq.
He was found in west Baghdad with three bullet wounds to the head, said the Sharkiya channel. Hassan was a director of the station and also produced a political interview show for it.
As with other media, several journalists and employees of Sharkiya have been killed. Owned by a London-based Iraqi businessman it takes an independent editorial line, though many viewers see it as leaning toward minority Sunni Arab viewpoints.
"We feel we're all at risk," a senior journalist at Sharkiya said.
"We all think of quitting the station."
Hassan's sister Nadia Hassan Ja'az said his death was incomprehensible. "Why did they want to kill him? He didn't hurt anyone," she told Sharkiya.
"He has nothing to do with Sunni or Shi'ite, he doesn't recognise these things. He's just an actor defending Iraq, its people and his family," she said through tears.
