Azad Muhammad Hussein

New York, October 11, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply concerned by the kidnappings of an Iraqi journalist on Monday and another last month, both in Baghdad. The new reports come amid a recent rise in kidnappings of journalists, CPJ research shows.

According to CPJ sources, unidentified gunmen kidnapped Ali Kareem, editor-in-chief of the private weekly Nabad Al-Shabab, from al-Amin neighborhood in southern Baghdad. A source at the newspaper told CPJ that Kareem, who moved to Syria after the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, had recently returned to Baghdad for surgery and was on his way to a doctor’s office when he was abducted. The kidnappers demanded US$50,000 ransom from the journalist’s family, the source said. CPJ is investigating the circumstances behind the abduction of Kareem, who had continued to edit the paper even after moving from the country.

New York, October 10, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the reported murder of an Iraqi journalist, whose body was identified in the Baghdad morgue today, a week after he had been kidnapped by unidentified gunmen.

The Journalistic Freedoms Observatory, an Iraqi press freedom organization, said the body of Azad Muhammad Hussein, 29, a reporter for the Iraqi Islamic Party-owned Radio Dar Al-Salam, showed evident signs of torture. The journalist was kidnapped from al-Shaab neighborhood in northern Baghdad on October 3. It was not immediately clear how or when Hussein’s body arrived at the morgue. CPJ is investigating to determine whether the killing was related to Hussein’s work.

The body of Azad Muhammad Hussein, 29, a reporter for the Iraqi Islamic Party-owned Radio Dar Al-Salam, was identified in the Baghdad morgue on October 10, according to the Journalistic Freedoms Observatory, an Iraqi press freedom organization.

The journalist had been kidnapped from Al-Shaab neighborhood in northern Baghdad on October 3. The motive for the abduction and killing was not clear.