Former President John Dramani Mahama has condemned the murder of ace Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh.

Mr Mahama said "we all mourn her loss", adding that she was a journalist, who, for many years, covered and brought the world reports of events in Israel and the Middle East region. 

It is Mr Mahama’s prayer that whoever pulled the trigger and any associates will be brought to justice through an independent and transparent process.

On May 11, 2022, Abu Akleh was shot and killed while reporting on an Israel Defense Forces raid on the West Bank city of Jenin. Al Jazeera and the Palestinian Ministry of Health reported that she was killed by the IDF, with an Agence France-Presse photojournalist also reporting Israeli forces had shot and killed her, eyewitness reports, as well as statements by other countries and non-governmental organizations additionally, characterised her killing as having been perpetrated by Israeli forces.

While Israel initially said she was killed as a result of an exchange of fire with Palestinian militants, an Israeli spokesperson subsequently said that it was not yet known who was responsible.

An autopsy was inconclusive as to who shot Abu Akleh.

Having condemned the murder of the Palestinian-American journalist, Mr Mahama also noted that the murderers of Ghanaian journalist Ahmed Suale are still walking free.

He has, thus, called on the Akufo-Addo administration and the Police Service to take the investigation seriously and bring the murderers to justice.

Ahmed Hussein-Suale was an undercover investigative journalist and an associate of fellow Ghanaian investigative journalist Anas Aremeyaw Anas. 

He died on Wednesday, 16 January 2019 when unidentified men on motorbikes shot him three times, twice in the chest and once in his neck in his vehicle.