Abducted reporter freed on payment of ransom

Hossam Daoud Lazim, a Kirkuk-based reporter who was abducted on 17 February by four gunmen in civilian dress, was released on 26 February after payment of 20,000 dollars (14,600 euros) in ransom. Lazim did not say who his kidnappers were. ---------------------- 18.02.10 Journalist kidnapped Reporters Without Borders today expressed concern about Iraqi journalist, Hossam Daoud Lazim, who has been kidnapped in Kirkuk. “We urge the authorities to deploy all the means necessary to find the journalist safe and sound”, the worldwide press freedom organisation said. Four armed men in civilian clothes snatched the 22-year-old journalist from outside his home in the Nasr district in the east of Kirkuk, 255 kilometres north of Baghdad, at around 1pm yesterday. He works for the satellite TV channel al-‘Ahad (the Promise), and for the newspaper al-Nassar, two media controlled by supporters of the Shiite leader Moqtada Sadr. His brother told AFP that Hossam had told him he had been abducted in a text sent to his mobile phone but he did not know who was behind the kidnapping. “We immediately alerted the security forces so that they could open an investigation”, he said. It is not yet known if the kidnapping was linked to the journalist’s work or if it was for political, religious or criminal motives. There has been an upsurge in violent attack against journalists in the run-up to legislative elections in March.