Shireen Abu Akleh among 66 journalists honoured in France memorial

Shireen Abu Akleh was among the fallen journalists honoured when a memorial stone was unveiled in France on Thursday.

The Palestinian-American reporter was shot dead by Israeli forces in May while she was covering a military raid in the occupied West Bank.

A white stone column immortalising the names of 66 journalists killed from the middle of 2021 to the middle of this year was unveiled by Reporters Without Borders (RSF) Secretary-General Christophe Deloire.

"In its annual ceremony, Reporters Without Borders… will pay tribute to journalists killed while exercising their profession over the past year," read a programme for the 2022 Bayeux Calvados-Normandy Awards for War Correspondents, which the commemoration event is part of.

Abu Akleh's niece Lina paid tribute to her aunt during the event, which took place at the Reporters' Memorial in Bayeux, located in northern France's Normandy region.

Unveiling of the stele! Honoring Shireen Abu Akleh in this emotional tribute ❤️‍🩹 pic.twitter.com/LGZDeDeSEx

— Lina Abu Akleh (@LinaAbuAkleh) October 6, 2022

Lina tweeted a video from the event, saying: "Unveiling of the stele! Honoring Shireen Abu Akleh in this emotional tribute."

Abu Akleh, who was killed aged 51, was a veteran journalist for pan-Arab network Al Jazeera. She was highly regarded across the Middle East.

The 66 journalists named on the column all lost their lives in connection with their work, RSF said on its website.

The ceremony was set to begin at 17:00 (1500 GMT) with two other journalists receiving specific tributes.

Markiian Lyseiko spoke on behalf of Ukrainian photojournalist Maks Levin, who RSF said Russian troops executed near Kyiv in March.

The parents of French video reporter Frédéric Leclerc-Imhoff, who was killed by shell shrapnel in Ukraine in May, were also to be at the event.

Leclerc-Imhoff was inside a humanitarian truck when he lost his life.

Tribute was paid by his mother Sylviane.

Of the 66 journalists whose names are listed on the memorial column, 10 were Mexican.