Nazar Abdulwahid al-Radhi

New York, November 5, 2007—The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes the weekend release of Radio Free Iraq correspondent Jumana al-Obaidi, who was held by kidnappers for nearly two weeks.

The station’s parent, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), said al-Obaidi was abducted from a car while on her way to a scheduled assignment at the Iraqi Environment Ministry on October 22. Radio Free Iraq, the Arabic language service of RFE/RL, broadcasts to Iraq from RFE/RL headquarters in Prague. The radio service said Iraqi police found the body of al-Obaidi’s slain driver, identified only as Abdullah, in Baghdad’s Al-Shaab neighborhood shortly after the abduction. The radio service said he was in his late 20s and was survived by a wife.

New York, November 5, 2007—The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes the weekend release of Radio Free Iraq correspondent Jumana al-Obaidi, who was held by kidnappers for nearly two weeks.

The station’s parent, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), said al-Obaidi was abducted from a car while on her way to a scheduled assignment at the Iraqi Environment Ministry on October 22. Radio Free Iraq, the Arabic language service of RFE/RL, broadcasts to Iraq from RFE/RL headquarters in Prague. The radio service said Iraqi police found the body of al-Obaidi’s slain driver, identified only as Abdullah, in Baghdad’s Al-Shaab neighborhood shortly after the abduction. The radio service said he was in his late 20s and was survived by a wife.

New York, October 23, 2007­­— The Committee to Protect Journalists expressed deep concern today about the abduction of a radio correspondent and the slaying of her driver in Baghdad on Monday.

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) said the correspondent, whose name was not released, did not arrive for a scheduled assignment on Monday morning. The female correspondent worked for Radio Free Iraq, the Arabic language service of RFE/RL that broadcasts to Iraq from RFE/RL headquarters in Prague. RFE/RL said it is not releasing certain details in an effort to help locate and free the correspondent. The radio service said that Iraqi police found the body of her driver in Baghdad’s Al-Shaab neighborhood. The driver was not named.

New York, June 1, 2007—The Committee to Protect Journalists mourns the slayings of four Iraqi journalists during an especially deadly week in the country.

Nazar Abdulwahid al-Radhi, 38, a correspondent for the independent news agency Aswat al-Iraq and Radio Free Iraq, was gunned down in the southern city of Al-Amarah on Wednesday morning. Three men wearing white uniforms and riding in a pickup truck killed al-Radhi outside the Al-Arusa Hotel in the city’s center, Saad Hassan, an eyewitness and reporter for the daily newspaper Al-Sabah, told Aswat al-Iraq.

New York, June 7, 2007—An Iraqi journalist who had been abducted, shot and threatened with death was slain in Mosul today by unidentified gunmen who answered her cell phone after the killing and told the caller "she went to hell."

The Committee to Protect Journalists condemned the murder of Sahar Hussein Ali al-Haydari, 44, a correspondent for the National Iraqi News Agency (NINA) and the independent news agency Aswat al-Iraq and a contributor to a number of other Iraqi media outlets. She also was a journalist trainee and correspondent for the London-based Institute for War and Peace Reporting, an organization that trains local journalists in war coverage.