Ismail Amin Ali

freelance

August 7, 2006, in Baghdad, Iraq

The body of freelance journalist Ali, 30, was discovered in late evening by police in the eastern section of Baghdad known as al-Sadr City, according to a CPJ source. His body was riddled with bullets, and Iraqi police said they found signs of torture, The Associated Press reported.

A local source told CPJ that the journalist had been abducted while he was at a gas station in Al-Shaab neighborhood of Baghdad two weeks earlier. The kidnappers had demanded ransom, but his family was unable to pay.

A local source said Ali, a well-known Sunni columnist for several Baghdad-based papers, including Al-Sabah and Al-Qarar, may have been targeted because he was highly critical of the Shiite-dominated security forces.

Medium: Print

Job: Columnist / Commentator

Beats Covered: Politics, War

Gender: Male

Local or Foreign: Local

Freelance: Yes

Type of Death: Murder

Suspected Source of Fire: Political Group

Impunity: Yes

Taken Captive: Yes

Tortured: Yes

Threatened: No

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• Kidnapped Iraqi journalist discovered in Baghdad morgue , October 10, 2006
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