12 February 2008
Hisham Mijawet Hamdan
Torture
Police discovered the body of Hisham Mijawet Hamdan, 27, a board member of the Young Journalists Association and took him to Al-Tib al-Adli morgue in Baghdad, Haidar Hasoun, founder and head of the association, told the Committee to Protect Journalists.
He said that the journalist, who exhibited signs of torture, was shot in the head and chest. Hamdan's family lost contact with him on Sunday morning when he went to buy stationery supplies from a Baghdad market, Hasoun said.
Hasoun told CPJ that Hamdan was active in a campaign organized by the association less than two months ago in support of the families of journalists killed in Iraq and called on the Iraqi government and civil society organizations to do more to assist them.
He was also part of a committee formed to collect financial contributions for the families of slain journalists. Hamdan had appeared on Iraqi satellite channels advocating on behalf of the families, which may have made him a target, Hasoun said.
CPJ is investigating the circumstances surrounding his abduction and murder. Hamdan worked as a political reporter for the bimonthly paper Al-Siyassa wal-Karar, published by the Young Journalists Association. The paper's print edition recently became defunct, but the association maintains the paper's Web site, according to Hasoun, who serves as the editor-in-chief.
