Kidnapped Iraqi boxer found dead

The body of a well-known Shiite boxer was found in central Baghdad today near the dangerous street where he was kidnapped several days ago, police said.

Hassan Hadi, 42 and the father of two children, was hanged to death, police said.

Hadi was en route to a spare parts store that he owns on Monday when the attackers intercepted his car and abducted him, police said.

Police said the boxer was seized while travelling on Haifa Street, a Sunni insurgent stronghold on the west bank of the Tigris River about a mile north of the Green Zone, site of the US and British embassies as well as the Iraqi government headquarters.

The area was the site of fierce clashes between insurgents and US-Iraqi forces just two days later.

An official with the Youth and Sports Ministry said earlier that no ransom had been demanded and stressed that Hadi was not linked with any political party.

“We condemn the kidnapping of this boxer and we call on the kidnappers to free him,” ministry spokesman Hassan Qadim said. “Hadi is a sports symbol and his abduction is aimed at stopping the sport in its tracks.”

Hadi fought for al-Zawraa, Iraq’s biggest sports club.

Athletes and sports officials have increasingly become targets of threats, kidnappings and assassination attempts, either as part of retaliatory violence between Shiites and Sunnis or for ransom.

In December, gunmen abducted the Sunni head of one of Iraq’s leading soccer clubs.

A blind Iraqi athlete and Paralympics coach also were kidnapped last year but were released unharmed after sports officials said their abductors determined neither was linked to the Sunni insurgency.

An Iraqi international football referee also was abducted in the fall as he left the football association's offices. The kidnappers reportedly demanded a £100,000 (€151,860) ransom.