Paul Marshall Johnson Jr. (May 8, 1955 – ) was an American helicopter engineer who lived in

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...

. In 2004, he was taken hostage by militants and his murder was recorded on video tape.

Background

Johnson was born in Eagleswood Township, New Jersey. He graduated from

Southern Regional High School Southern Regional High School is a regional comprehensive public high school located in the Manahawkin section of Stafford Township in Ocean County, New Jersey, serving students in ninth through twelfth grades and operating as part of the S ...

in 1973.

Abduction and death

On June 12, 2004, Johnson, who worked for

Lockheed Martin The Lockheed Martin Corporation is an American aerospace, arms, defense, information security, and technology corporation with worldwide interests. It was formed by the merger of Lockheed Corporation with Martin Marietta in March 1995. It ...

on upgrading Saudi

AH-64A Apache The Boeing AH-64 Apache () is an American twin-turboshaft attack helicopter with a tailwheel-type landing gear arrangement and a tandem cockpit for a crew of two. It features a nose-mounted sensor suite for target acquisition and night vis ...

attack helicopters, was stopped at a fake police checkpoint near Riyadh and then abducted. His kidnappers called themselves Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. The group, headed by

Abdel Aziz al-Muqrin Abdel Aziz Issa Abdul-Mohsin Al-Muqrin (; ar, عبد العزيز عيسى عبد المحسن المقرن; also ''Abd al-Aziz al-Moqrin'' and other transliterations), alias Abu Hajr (ابو هاجر) and Abu Hazim, (1971–2004), was the leader ...

, posted a video of a blindfolded Johnson on an Islamist website on June 15, 2004 and threatened to kill him unless all al-Qaeda prisoners were released from Saudi jails within 72 hours. Immediately after the video was released, American and Saudi Arabian authorities began to deal with the hostage situation. Both the United States and Saudi Arabia asserted that they would not comply with the kidnappers' demands. Those demands included, but were not limited to, releasing all militants being held in Saudi custody. The video was released on the same day that Crown Prince Abdullah promised to step up security and investigations against militant Islamic groups in Saudi Arabia. One of Johnson's Saudi colleagues, Abdullah Al-Momin, published a petition message to the kidnappers through

Al-Arabiya TV Al Arabiya ( ar, العربية, Arabic romanization, transliterated: '; meaning "The Arabic One" or "The Arab One") is an International broadcasting, international Modern Standard Arabic, Arabic news television channel, currently based in Dub ...

. He asked them in the name of Islam to free Johnson as he has nothing to do with the American military. "If they are really Muslims they should release him" Abdullah said. Johnson's abduction came during increased violence against foreigners in Saudi Arabia. The previous week,

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...

journalists Frank Gardner and Simon Cumbers had been shot, and two other Americans had also been shot in Riyadh. Sultan Al Haseri, later to be listed on

Saudi Arabia's list of most wanted terrorist suspects Periodically Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Interior publishes a most wanted list. According to ''Asharq Alawsat'' Saudi Arabia has published four lists of "most wanted" suspected terrorists, and those lists contained 19, 26, 36 and 85 indi ...

and killed in a shootout in July 2005, was later to be described as taking a role in Johnson's kidnapping and murder.

Videotaped killing

At 17h30 UTC on June 18, Al-Arabiya and

CNN CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by the M ...

reported that Johnson had been decapitated. This report was based on three photographs of the murder posted on the Internet. Saudi officials initially claimed to have discovered Johnson's body near

Riyadh Riyadh (, ar, الرياض, 'ar-Riyāḍ, lit.: 'The Gardens' Najdi pronunciation: ), formerly known as Hajr al-Yamamah, is the capital and largest city of Saudi Arabia. It is also the capital of the Riyadh Province and the centre of the R ...

later that day, but the statements were withdrawn the following day on June 19. The Saudi government withheld official proclamation of Johnson's death until the body was found. In the murder video, after making the statements, the next shot is the execution already in progress. He is lying on a bed with what appears to be three men holding him down as one militant severs his head. Unlike the Nick Berg and Eugene Armstrong videos, there is no screaming. The video was also similar to that of Daniel Pearl, who was killed in

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

in 2002, and Kim Sun-il, a South Korean translator who was killed in Iraq during the same month not long after Johnson was killed in Saudi Arabia. HostingAnime, the company which hosts images and video of his murder, have defended showing his execution. On July 21, 2004, Saudi security officials found Johnson's head in a refrigerator in the residence of Issa Al-Khalidi, following a shootout in

with Saudi security forces in which Al-Khalidi was killed. Issa's brothers, Abd Al Aziz Sad Muhaamad Awshan Al-Khalidi and Suleyman Saaed Mohammed Al-Khalidi, were later detainees at the

Guantanamo Bay detention camp The Guantanamo Bay detention camp ( es, Centro de detención de la bahía de Guantánamo) is a United States military prison located within Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, also referred to as Guantánamo, GTMO, and Gitmo (), on the coast of Guant ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, Paul Marshall Jr. Johnson, Paul Marshall, Jr. 2004 murders in Saudi Arabia Johnson, Paul Marshall, Jr. American expatriates in Saudi Arabia Johnson, Paul Marshall, Jr. Johnson, Paul Marshall, Jr. American terrorism victims Islamism-related beheadings Filmed executions Formerly missing people Kidnapped American people Male murder victims Missing person cases in Saudi Arabia People murdered in Saudi Arabia People from Eagleswood Township, New Jersey People from Stafford Township, New Jersey Southern Regional High School alumni Terrorism deaths in Saudi Arabia Filmed killings in Asia

Background

Abduction and death

Videotaped killing

See also

References