The death on of Erbil-based British journalist Jacqueline Sutton, found in a bathroom in an Istanbul airport on Saturday, has sent shockwaves through the Rudaw newsroom where staff members remembered her as tough, caring and kind.
“I was shocked. I saw on the Internet that one of her students had posted about the mysterious death in Ataturk airport. When I saw she killed herself in a toilet, I said ‘Impossible,’” said Julie Adnan, 30, a Rudaw director and photographer, who worked with 50-year-old “Jacky” Sutton earlier this year.
“She always told me to be strong. She told me to be brave.”
Turkish media reported that Sutton, an ex-BBC reporter serving as Iraq director for the Institute of War and Peace Reporting (IWPR), arrived at the airport around 10pm for a flight to Erbil departing around midnight.
The reports said Sutton missed her connecting flight and became distraught, first bursting into tears and then allegedly taking her own life in a toilet cubicle by reportedly hanging herself with a shoestring.
Airport authorities, according to the reports, said the security camera in the area was malfunctioning at the time of the alleged incident.
These initial reports have been questioned by Sutton’s friends and colleagues, and an international investigation has been urged.
“I can't believe my eyes when reading this. I just talked to Jacky Sutton, my great friend and former boss, a couple of weeks ago. Now she is gone forever from this world!” wrote Namo Abdullah, Rudaw’s correspondent in Washington, on his social media page.
He added: “Knowing Jacky as a strong woman so committed to make a difference in Iraq, where she spent years first as a journalist then through her NGO work at IREX [and UNDP to help turn the country into a society where human lives mattered, it is just so hard to believe she has taken her own life!”
Rudaw columnist Judit Neurink was with Sutton’s IREX team in Baghdad several years ago when a bomb went off in the hotel they were working in. By Neurink’s account, Sutton handled the situation in a supportive and professional manner, “giving them the space to talk about their feelings.”
“She was a tough lady. She really worked quite a long time in Iraq and she got used to all the risks and was coping with that. It’s not easy, and a lot of people have left because of those risks, but she stayed,” said Neurink.
Adnan, who interviewed Sutton for Rudaw as a specialist in women’s issues, said she was struck by calmness and well-considered words.
“She was always hopeful and nice, with everyone not just with me. I felt relaxed around her and I said, ‘This is someone I can trust.’”
“I was shocked. I saw on the Internet that one of her students had posted about the mysterious death in Ataturk airport. When I saw she killed herself in a toilet, I said ‘Impossible,’” said Julie Adnan, 30, a Rudaw director and photographer, who worked with 50-year-old “Jacky” Sutton earlier this year.
“She always told me to be strong. She told me to be brave.”
Turkish media reported that Sutton, an ex-BBC reporter serving as Iraq director for the Institute of War and Peace Reporting (IWPR), arrived at the airport around 10pm for a flight to Erbil departing around midnight.
The reports said Sutton missed her connecting flight and became distraught, first bursting into tears and then allegedly taking her own life in a toilet cubicle by reportedly hanging herself with a shoestring.
Airport authorities, according to the reports, said the security camera in the area was malfunctioning at the time of the alleged incident.
These initial reports have been questioned by Sutton’s friends and colleagues, and an international investigation has been urged.
“I can't believe my eyes when reading this. I just talked to Jacky Sutton, my great friend and former boss, a couple of weeks ago. Now she is gone forever from this world!” wrote Namo Abdullah, Rudaw’s correspondent in Washington, on his social media page.
He added: “Knowing Jacky as a strong woman so committed to make a difference in Iraq, where she spent years first as a journalist then through her NGO work at IREX [and UNDP to help turn the country into a society where human lives mattered, it is just so hard to believe she has taken her own life!”
Rudaw columnist Judit Neurink was with Sutton’s IREX team in Baghdad several years ago when a bomb went off in the hotel they were working in. By Neurink’s account, Sutton handled the situation in a supportive and professional manner, “giving them the space to talk about their feelings.”
“She was a tough lady. She really worked quite a long time in Iraq and she got used to all the risks and was coping with that. It’s not easy, and a lot of people have left because of those risks, but she stayed,” said Neurink.
Adnan, who interviewed Sutton for Rudaw as a specialist in women’s issues, said she was struck by calmness and well-considered words.
“She was always hopeful and nice, with everyone not just with me. I felt relaxed around her and I said, ‘This is someone I can trust.’”
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