Here are some of their stories:

Zakia Zaki / Afghanistan

Zakia Zaki was an active journalist and a very busy woman. A mother of six, she was also head of the Sada-e-Sulh (Peace Radio) radio station in Parwan, Afghanistan. She was murdered in her bed on June 6, 2007.

Zakia Zaki had run the radio station since it was founded in 2001 and was also head of a local school. She had received several death threats after openly criticising warlords and the Taliban. On June 5, 2007, two armed men broke into Zakia's home in the northern province of Parwan, and gunned her down in front of her two-year-old son, firing seven bullets before fleeing. An investigation has been opened but no particular lead was being given priority.

Zakia Zaki liked to refer to Sada-e-Sulh as "a community home for the residents, the only place where they dare to express themselves freely". It is the only independent radio in Parwan province and broadcasts mainly on issues such as human rights, education and women's rights.

"Zakia's radio station broadcasted messages of hope to women," the Afghan Journal reported after her death. "She was the perfect candidate as an associate in the Business Council for Peace (B-Peace) Business Education program for women who wanted to become entrepreneurs." Under Taliban rule, Zakia who was also a schoolteacher had qualified to become a B-Peace associate through a rigorous application process.

In an interview with a Reporters Without Borders delegation which visited Afghanistan in 2002, Zaki said she had received death threats from several Mujahideen chiefs. Local leaders of the Jamiat-e-islami had banned her from interviewing women in the street for her broadcasts.

At the time of the murder, authorities denounced the killing as an "act of terror" and declared that they "have to carry out a real investigation." But the investigation stagnates and it now appears to the family and colleagues of Zakia Zaki that authorities may have even abandoned the investigation.

Kenji Nagai Myanmar / Myanmar

The last image recorded of Kenji Nagai is a reflection of his unwavering courage as a journalist: A wounded photographer trying to capture clashes between Burmese citizens and the military during protests in the streets of Yangon as an armed soldier stands over him with a rifle. Nagai was shot at point blank in the chest and died on September 27, 2007.

In an article published in a Japanese newspaper, The Daily Yomiuri, a long-time friend said Nagai traveled to dangerous places in order to convey the truth of what was happening in the world.

Nagai was born in Imbari, Japan, and after graduating from university, studied in the U.S. for one year. Nagai spent the latter half of his 50-year life, working as a journalist. The Palestinian Territories, Afghanistan and Iraq are among the war ravaged areas he traveled to and photographed.

Nagai was working for the Agence France-Presse news agency when he entered Myanmar on a visitor's VISA to record the pro-democracy protests taking place in Yangon.

Burma Action Group October 25, 2007

At the IFEX General Meeting in Montevideo on 7 to 12 October, 20 IFEX members and partners including CJFE formed a special Burma Action Group to respond to the unfolding humanitarian crisis.

The Burma Action Group is particularly concerned over the death of journalists in the recent crackdown, the arrest and continued detention of members of the Burmese media, the reported suspension of private journals and newspapers in Yangon, and the Burmese government's cutting of access to the Internet.

We are also troubled by the murder of Japanese freelance journalist Kenji Nagai at the hands of Burmese soldiers. We urge the Burmese government to carry out a thorough investigation into the killing of Japanese APF photographer Kenji Nagai, who died on September 27 on the streets of Rangon allegedly at the hand of Burmese troops. Impunity is a threat to the rule of law and, as such, a violation of Article 7 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Fessahaye "Joshua" Yohannes / Eritrea

Fessahaye "Joshua" Yohannes, the co-editor and co-founder of a weekly newspaper Setit, died in a secret prison in January, 2007, as a result of severe ill-treatment and denial of medical care.

His newspaper probed the boundaries of the Eritrean government's tolerance for alternative viewpoints through its exploration of poverty, land and housing concerns, the plight of handicapped war veterans, and other social issues confronting the country and had at one point the largest circulation of any paper in the country. It also provided a forum for debate on the president's increasingly autocratic rule.

An open letter published in Setit on September 9, 2001, told the government that, "People can tolerate hunger and other problems for a long time, but they can't tolerate the absence of good administration and justice."

Nine days later, with world attention distracted by the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, authorities in this tiny nation on the Horn of Africa moved swiftly to silence critics, and the government suspended all of Eritrea's independent and privately-owned newspapers for allegedly threatening state security and "jeopardizing national unity." With the press out of business, the government cancelled general elections.

Yohannes and 10 other Eritrean journalists arrested in 2001 were detained in severe conditions, despite intense international campaigning for their release by Amnesty International and media organizations. The Eritrean government, defying international concerns, has shrugged off all reports of human rights abuses as fabrications.

In addition to his work with Setit, Yohannes wrote poetry, short stories and plays, and had directed a touring theatrical troupe. He was 47, married and a father of three. In January 2007, Amnesty International received a credible report that Fessehaye "Joshua" died in detention. Eritrean authorities have failed to either confirm or deny the reports.

Sahar Al-Haideri - print journalist / Iraq

Sahar al-Haideri was killed in Iraq on June 7, 2007. She was shot by four unidentified gunmen, during a visit to Mosul. In her last interview, Sahar told the US Press Gazette, "Our psychological state is unbalanced because we live and think in fear and worry and always think about our destiny and that of our family members, relatives and friends, but I have never thought about quitting, as journalism is my life and I really love it."

The mother of four held a BA degree in Media, participated in numerous journalism training courses and workshops provided by international organisations in Iraq and actively worked for a number of news agencies. These include the National Iraq News Agency (NINA), the Voices of Iraq (VOI) and the Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR).

For about a year before her death, Haideri's published articles in IWPR were printed under a pseudonym, and she had moved her husband and four children to Syria to escape persecution.

In 2007 Sahar Al-Haideri won CJFE's International Press Freedom Award and the IPWR, who nominated her for this award has established a fund in honour of Sahar al-Haideri to help support and train exiled and disabled journalists, as well as the families of murdered journalists around the world.

Ali Iman Sharmarke - media owner / Somalia

Owner and one of three original founders of the first independent Somali media outlet, HornAfrik, Ali Iman Sharmarke was assassinated as he left the funeral of another slain colleague on August 11, 2007.

Born in Somalia, Sharmarke fled the war-torn country to build a life in Ottawa, where he became a Canadian citizen. In 1999, he returned to Mogadishu to establish HornAfrik, which would win the CJFE International Press Freedom Award in 2002 for its diligent reporting in the face of adversity.

On August 11, 2007, Sharmarke was heading home following the funeral of Mahad Ahmed Elmi - a HornAfrik talk show host who had been gunned down earlier that day - when a remote-control land mine was triggered beneath his car. The 50-year-old father of three died of his injuries, while the explosion also injured two other journalists in the car.

HornAfrik is known for being openly critical of both the government and local militants who were waging civil war in an attempt to seize power. Local police said both attacks were likely motivated by the work of the victims.

Somalia was a big hot spot for working as a journalist in 2007 and Ali Iman Sharmarke is one of eight journalists who were killed there this year. Somali radio editors and reporters live in fear of violent governmental shut downs of their stations.

In 2007 this happened to Radio Banadir, Radio Simba and Radio Shabelle. According to local journalists, these radio stations have been closed by the government because of their coverage of the civil war between the Somalia and Ethiopian Army versus Islamic insurgents.

Ali Sharmarke leaves behind a large family and many friends who mourn him. Several of them were present at CJFE's International Press Freedom Awards on November 1, where he was honoured with the Tara Singh Hayer award.

Hayat Ullah Khan, Pakistan

Hayat Ullah Khan was a freelance tribal journalist and photographer. He worked under dangerous circumstances, covering the military action in Pakistan's tribal areas bordering Afghanistan. He was abducted on December 5, 2005. His family suspects that he was picked up by an intelligence agency because four days prior to his disappearance he had released pictures from an attack on North Waziristan.

His reports contradicted official accounts claiming that a senior Al-Qaeda commander, Abu Hamza Rabia, died after munitions exploded inside a house. Hayatullah quoted a local tribesman as saying the house was hit by an air-launched missile. International media then identified the fragments in the photographs as part of a Hellfire missile, possibly fired from a US drone.

His dead body was found in North Waziristan on June 16, 2006. He left behind his wife, Mehrunisa Khan, and five children. After his death was confirmed, journalists in major Pakistani cities held protest demonstrations about Khan's murder and the dangers encountered by journalists working in the tribal areas.

But the tragedy did not end with Hayat Ullah's murder. Several months after his body was discovered, his younger brother was also murdered. And on November 17, 2007, his five small children lost their mother as well. She was killed by a bomb blast at her home, apparently carried out using a remote-controlled device.

With extraordinary courage, and defying the role traditionally assigned to women in the tribal areas, Mehrunisa had continued a campaign seeking justice for her dead husband. Indeed, other members of the family remain convinced that it is for this reason that she was targeted.

Hayat Ullah's family have resisted pressures to abandon their efforts to pursue the case and discover who was behind the abduction, torture and murder of the journalist.