Adel Sayegh, an Iraqi photographer and video journalist from Mosul, was kidnapped by men from the Islamic State group in August 2015. He was executed the same month, two local media groups, the Society for the Defense of Press Freedom in Iraq and the Nineveh Reporters Network, told the Committee to Protect Journalists.
Sayegh was shot in the head in a Mosul square surrounded by onlookers and IS members, a third group, the Iraqi Observatory for Journalistic Freedom (IOJF) reported. The exact date of his death is unknown.
Sayegh had worked for al-Mosuliya TV until the US-funded channel was forcibly closed by IS when the group overtook the city in June 2014. Al-Mosuliya was specifically targeted by the militants due to the channel’s perception as being pro-American, former employees told CPJ. “From day one, we were more threatened because of our American links… They smashed our technical equipment and arrested our staff,” one recounted.
After the fall of Mosul, Sayegh began to work sporadically for Salaheddin TV, a Tikrit-based private channel, friends and colleagues told CPJ. The channel has not replied to CPJ’s request for comment.
Prior to the fall of Mosul, Sayegh had freelanced for Reuters and Al Arabiya, friends told CPJ.
The Baghdad-based IOJF said the journalist’s body was buried without a funeral. Two colleagues from al-Mosuliya who in October 2015 met with CPJ in Irbil said Sayegh’s family had received his corpse. CPJ is not immediately able to reconcile these accounts.