British journalist and author Robert Fisk died of a stroke in his home in the Irish capital Dublin. The newspaper reported that The Irish Times Sunday and was confirmed in an article by Monday The Independent, the newspaper he wrote for until his death. He was 74 years old.
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Fisk was hospitalized on Friday after becoming unwell. He is said to have died shortly after, says The Irish Times.
Fisk was one of the best-known British foreign correspondents, who was particularly active for a long time in the Middle East for The Independent. ‘Fisk was known for his courage to question official government accounts and publish what he discovered in often brilliant prose’, writes that newspaper.
Born in Kent, UK, Fisk began his career with the Sunday Express and then joined The Times for which he was stationed in Northern Ireland, Portugal and the Middle East. In 1989 he finally switched to The Independent.
Osama bin Laden
For that newspaper, he lived for years in the Lebanese capital Beirut at a time when journalists were often kidnapped. He interviewed Osama bin Laden twice. After the September 11 attacks and the subsequent invasion of Iraq by the United States and the United Kingdom, he traveled to the Pakistani-Afghan border. There he was attacked by a group of Afghan refugees, enraged by the murder of their countrymen by Western forces. His article that followed made it to the front page of The Independent. “Being beaten up by refugees is a symbol of the hatred and anger of this dirty war,” was the title.
He has written several books, including The Great War of Civilization: The Conquest of the Middle East (2005).
‘Refugees demand dignity’
Interviewed in 2017 The standard him about the role of the West in the Middle East. ‘In the West we have the childish idea that we are’ ‘democracy’ ‘(snorts) need to install in the Middle East. Refugees do not come to Europe for democracy at all. That’s the word their dictators used to come to power. The demonstrators in squares in the Middle East have different demands. They demand dignity, justice and freedom, ”he said at the time. “We’re not going to help the Middle East with more security personnel and bombs. That is exactly what IS wants. ‘
Fisk has received several awards for his work as a journalist. He also received an honorary doctorate from Ghent University in 2006.
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