Iraqi international soccer referee kidnapped in Baghdad

Team Infidel

Forum Spin Doctor
Media: The Associated Press
Byline: QAIS AL-BASHIR
Date: 10 October 2006

BAGHDAD, Iraq - An Iraqi international soccer referee was kidnapped as he
left the Iraqi Federation of Football in Baghdad, police said Tuesday.

Hazim Hussein had just left the Shaab Stadium in northeastern Baghdad, where
the federation is headquartered, on Monday evening when he was taken by
unidentified assailants, police Capt. Mohammed Abdul-Ghani said.

Tariq Ahmed, head of the Iraqi Referee Association, told Asharq al-Awsat
newspaper that the kidnappers had asked for a US$200,000 (?160,000) ransom
for the 44-year-old.

Hussein had been scheduled to travel to Amman later this month to referee a
game between Jordan and Qatar, Ahmed said.

Iraqi sports officials and athletes have frequently faced threats,
kidnappings and assassination attempts.

Most recently, on Oct. 6, gunmen killed a 37-year-old former Iraqi national
volleyball player, Naseer Shamil, in his shop in Baghdad.

In September, 22-year-old Ghanim Ghudayer, a popular Iraqi soccer player who
was a member of the country's Olympic team was also kidnapped. He has not
been heard from since.

In July, Iraq's national soccer coach, Akram Ahmed Salman, resigned after
receiving death threats against him and his family.

Earlier that month, unidentified gunmen kidnapped the chairman of Iraq's
National Olympic Committee and at least 30 other officials, including the
presidents of the taekwondo and boxing federations, in a brazen daylight
raid on a sports conference in the heart of Baghdad.

The abduction came after Iraq's national wrestling coach, a Sunni, was
killed in a Shiite district of Baghdad.

Soccer is popular in Iraq, where the national team's successes in the past
three years have provided a joyous distraction from the daily violence.
 
Back
Top