Several gunmen in a car shot al-Daami, 40, a producer for the independent Cairo-based satellite channel Al-Baghdadia, in Baghdad’s southwestern neighborhood of Al-Qadissiya at around 4 p.m., a source at the channel told CPJ. The source said that al-Daami was heading home southwest of Baghdad. He added that al-Daami, a well-known poet, had gone to Baghdad to attend a cultural conference on his day off from work.
The motive for the killing was unclear, but the crime scene was in a neighborhood occupied by several militia groups known to target journalists, according to local reporters.
The Journalistic Freedoms Observatory, an Iraqi press freedom organization, quoted Al-Baghdadia sources as saying that al-Daami met with several colleagues earlier that day in Baghdad’s Al-Mansour neighborhood to plan a young people’s cultural forum. Al-Daami worked on cultural and social programs for Al-Baghdadia, writing and researching in his role as a line producer.