Firas Maadidi

New York, September 22, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists today condemned the shooting of an engineer working for al-Iraqiya television in Mosul, the third killing of an Iraqi media employee in the northern city in less than a week. Ahlam Youssef was shot to death on Wednesday while driving with her husband, who was also killed. Their son was seriously wounded in the attack, Samer al-Obeidi, editor-in-chief of al-Iraqiya in Baghdad, told CPJ.

New York, September 21, 2005—An Iraqi editor working in the northern city of Mosul was gunned down outside his home on Tuesday, the third journalist killed in the country in four days and the second affiliated with the daily newspaper As-Saffir. The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed at the killings, which continue a deadly trend in which local Iraqi reporters are being targeted for their work.

SEPTEMBER 20, 2005
Posted: September 21, 2005

Firas Maadidi, As-Saffir
KILLED—CONFIRMED

Firas Maadidi, 40, Mosul bureau chief for As-Saffir and chief editor of the local daily Al-Masar, was killed by unidentified gunmen in the al-Noor neighborhood, As-Saffir Deputy Editor Slayhe al-Jowiree told CPJ. Maadidi was shot six times, including twice to the head.

As-Saffir, based in Baghdad, took a strong pro-democracy editorial stance and ran a campaign to educate Iraqis on the importance of the new constitution, local journalists said. It said insurgent attacks against Iraqi civilians were terrorist operations.
"We are an independent newspaper serving the Iraqi people, and we have no political or factional affiliations," Jowiree told CPJ. The murder came just days after the slaying of Hind Ismail, a 28-year-old reporter for As-Saffir.

Ismail, a 28-year-old reporter for the daily As-Saffir, was kidnapped in the northern city of Mosul, local journalists told CPJ. Police in the southern suburb of al-Muthana found her body the next morning with a single bullet wound to the head.

"Hind was a very active reporter in Mosul," As-Saffir Deputy Editor Slayhe al-Jowiree said. "We respected her very much in her pursuit to uncover the truth."

The Baghdad-based As-Saffir took a strong pro-democracy editorial position and ran a campaign to educate Iraqis on the importance of the new constitution, local journalists said. It criticized insurgent attacks against Iraqi civilians, calling them terrorist operations.

Staff members believe insurgents targeted the newspaper because it supported the new Iraqi constitution, urged citizens to vote, and frequently covered press conferences held by the Iraqi police. The day before her abduction, Hind had covered a police press conference.

A close colleague told CPJ that Ismail was tortured by her captors and forced to reveal the names of other staffers at the newspaper. The torture session was filmed and later viewed by a staff member of the newspaper, the colleague said. The day after Ismail's death, insurgents circulated a list of newspaper staff and posted it on the walls of mosques in Mosul, according to the colleague. On September 20, As-Saffir journalist Firas Maadidi was also killed.