Enzo G. Baldoni (October 8, 1948 – August 26, 2004) was an Italian journalist working freelance and for the Italian news magazine ''Diario'' before being kidnapped and killed in captivity as captured on video by his captors.
Baldoni was one of two Italians kidnapped in Iraq.
Personal
Baldoni was born in
Città di Castello, Umbria. He had arrived in
Baghdad
Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesiphon. I ...
a few weeks before his kidnapping and death, and also served there as a
Red Cross
The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a humanitarian movement with approximately 97 million volunteers, members and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ensure respect for all human beings, and ...
volunteer. He was married with two children.
Career
Baldoni had started his career in diverse jobs including working as a mason (in Belgium), a gymnastics professor, photographer, interpreter and laboratory technician. He then moved into advertising, working for the advertising agency ''Le balene colpiscono ancora'' ("The whales strike again"). Finally, he became a freelance journalist. He was also a translator, and was responsible for the Italian translation of ''
Doonesbury
''Doonesbury'' is a comic strip by American cartoonist Garry Trudeau that chronicles the adventures and lives of an array of characters of various ages, professions, and backgrounds, from the President of the United States to the title character, ...
'' comic strips.
Kidnapping and death
He was kidnapped near
Najaf
Najaf ( ar, ٱلنَّجَف) or An-Najaf al-Ashraf ( ar, ٱلنَّجَف ٱلْأَشْرَف), also known as Baniqia ( ar, بَانِيقِيَا), is a city in central Iraq about 160 km (100 mi) south of Baghdad. Its estimated popula ...
, Iraq, 19 August 2004 by the "
Islamic Army in Iraq
The Islamic Army in Iraq (IAI) ( ar, الجيش الإسلامي في العراق ''al jaysh al islāmi fī'l-`irāq'') was one of a number of underground Islamist militant (or '' mujahideen'') organizations formed in Iraq following the 2003 inv ...
", a Muslim fundamentalist terrorist organization, allegedly linked with
Al-Qaeda. His driver-interpreter was killed during the abduction. The Islamic Army released a videotape, aired on August 24 by
Al Jazeera
Al Jazeera ( ar, الجزيرة, translit-std=DIN, translit=al-jazīrah, , "The Island") is a state-owned Arabic-language international radio and TV broadcaster of Qatar. It is based in Doha and operated by the media conglomerate Al Jazeera ...
, in which it threatened to kill Baldoni unless
Italian troops were withdrawn from Iraq within 48 hours. On August 26, Al Jazeera came into possession of a videotape depicting Baldoni's murder. This videotape was not aired because of its gruesome nature. The existence of this tape is based on claims made by Al Jazeera only. Other sources claim it is only a video frame or a still shot taken with a
digital camera
A digital camera is a camera that captures photographs in digital memory. Most cameras produced today are digital, largely replacing those that capture images on photographic film. Digital cameras are now widely incorporated into mobile devices ...
.
See also
*
List of kidnappings
References
External links
DiarioPress freedom groups condemn killing-
IFEX
{{DEFAULTSORT:Baldoni, Enzo
1948 births
2004 deaths
20th-century Italian journalists
21st-century Italian journalists
20th-century Italian translators
Filmed assassinations
People from Città di Castello
Foreign hostages in Iraq
Journalists killed while covering the Iraq War
Italian people taken hostage
Assassinated Italian journalists
Italian war correspondents
Italian male journalists