Jamal al-Zubaidi

See also: Journalists killed   |   Media workers killed   |   Background reports

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Here is a statistical look at journalists abducted by armed groups in Iraq and held for periods ranging from several hours to many weeks. The analysis, covering the period 2003-09, is followed by capsule reports detailing each abduction. 

New York, March 5, 2007—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the brutal murder of an Iraqi editor by unmasked gunmen in Baghdad on Sunday. The body of another editor thought missing was identified by his family in a Baghdad morgue on Wednesday.

Around 8:30 a.m. on Sunday, several gunmen in two vehicles attempted to abduct Mohan Hussein al-Dhahir, 49, managing editor of the Baghdad daily Al-Mashreq, while he waited outside his home in Baghdad’s Al-Jamia neighborhood for the paper’s car to pick him up for work, according to sources at the paper. After a struggle, the sources said, the gunmen shot al-Dhahir six times in the back and once in the head.

New York, February 26, 2007—The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply concerned about the safety of an Iraqi newspaper editor who disappeared in central Baghdad on Saturday.

Jamal al-Zubaidi, 56, an economics editor for the Baghdad-based dailies As-Saffir and Al-Dustour, was last seen leaving As-Saffir’s offices in the central Karada neighborhood around 1 p.m. on Saturday, his son Riyah told CPJ. Family members called police and hospitals without avail, the son said, adding that he was not aware that his father had received any threats.