Shifa Gardi remembered on anniversary of her death

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – On the first anniversary of the death of Rudaw’s reporter and anchor Shifa Gardi, a statue in her memory was unveiled in front of Rudaw Media Networks’ headquarters in Erbil.

The statute, created by artist Khasraw Jaff, is named the ‘The Microphone of Shifa.’ 


 Video: The statue of Shifa Gardi in the making.


A memorial service paying tribute to Gardi’s life will be held at 3pm at Peshawa Hall in Erbil. It will be live-streamed by Rudaw. 

Shifa Zikri Ibrahim, professionally known as Shifa Gardi, was born a refugee in Iran on July 1, 1986. 

She was a graduate of the media department of Salahaddin University in Erbil and began her journalism career in 2006. She was a part of Rudaw Media Network since its foundation. 

Gardi, who was reporting on the war against ISIS in western Mosul for her daily TV programme Focus Mosul, was killed near Mosul on February 25, 2017. Her cameraman Younis Mustafa was injured in the same attack. 

She was killed by an ISIS bomb planted on the edge of the Khasfa pit, a mass burial site south of the city. A number of Hashd al-Shaabi fighters accompanying her to the spot were also killed and others wounded. 

ISIS used Khasfa pit, or Death Valley, near the village of al-Athba 20 kilometers south of Mosul, as an open mass grave, killing large numbers at the site and dumping their bodies into what was a natural sink hole.