Riad al-Saray

Riad al-Saray (1975 – 7 September 2010) was an Iraqi journalist, television presenter, lawyer and politician. He worked for the national TV channel Al Iraqiya from 2005 until his death. He was killed in a drive-by shooting carried out by a group of unknown gunmen. His murder was condemned by Reporters Without Borders and the British embassy in Baghdad, among others.

Career Saray joined the national Al Iraqiya network in 2005 and was the presenter of several religious and political programmes. He has been praised for attempting to reduce sectarian divides in Iraqi society through his programmes. In addition to his television work Saray sat on the local council in the Shia neighbourhood of Al-Shu'ala in north-west Baghdad and once served as its mayor.

Assassination

On 7 September 2010 Saray was shot whilst driving to work from his home in Harithiya, Baghdad to Karbala in the south. The attack occurred in Mansour district, western Baghdad at 6 am local time (3 am GMT) and was carried out by a group of gunmen, driving past in a speeding car. A silencer is believed to have been used during the attack as nearby traffic police did not hear any shots before witnessing Saray's car leave the road and crashing.

Saray's death came the same day that RWB announced that the Iraq War had become the most deadly for journalists since the Second World War with 230 journalists killed. In addition the RWB called "for a proper investigation capable of identifying and arresting both the perpetrators and instigators of this murder and bringing them to justice ... it would be deplorable if this killing were to go unpunished, which unfortunately has been the case in 99 per cent of the ... journalists and media workers [killed] since the US-led invasion in 2003". Saray was buried in the city of Najaf on 7 September and a mourning ceremony was later held at the local governor's office.