Sandžak party condemns attack on journalist

Sandžak party condemns attack on journalist

“We stand up for free and independent media and call on competent bodies to locate and identify the perpetrator of this assault on the journalist,” the statement said.

"Wahhabis made death threats"

B92 has learned that one day ahead of the Unifying Assembly of the Islamic Community in Serbia, head of the Bosnian Islamic community reis-ul-ulema Mustafa Cerić received death threats via SMS.

Wahhabis allegedly threatened to kill Cerić if he supported Sandžak mufti Muamer Zukorić as the next leader of Serbia's Islamic Community.

Circles close to Zukorilić said he received information before of the Aasembly that his life was also in danger. That is why Zukorlić maximized his security during the assembly, for which he underwent severe criticism.

The Sandžak mufti said on several occasions that militant Wahhabis targeted the Islamic community there.

“The threats were indeed obvious, but I believe that the Wahhabi group that operates in Sandžak lacks the power to implement the threats on its own,” Zukorilić added.

Although the state assigned a top-secret tag to the case, there is still no official confirmation of these allegations.

Rasim Ljajić of the Sandžak Democratic Party confirmed he was familiar with the threats, but refused to speculate as to their validity.

NUNS joins protests

The Independent Journalists’ Association of Serbia (NUNS) issued a protest statement concerning what they perceived as a failure on the part of the Sandžak police to locate the perpetrators of the attack on Glas Javnosti reporter Zoran Šaponjić.

NUNS said that reporters covering the Ismail Prentić’s funeral Saturday abided by all rules of professional conduct, without invading the event’s privacy.

“Police should have secured such a high-risk event and prevented the incident which could have been expected, given the sensitivity of the situation,” NUNS insisted.

The statement appealed to the police to do their job with increased efficiency, warning the authorities that journalists in Serbia were frequently exposed to extremist attacks, after which police fail to arrest the assailants, referring to the recent bombing attack on weekly Vreme journalist Dejan Anastasijević.