Mohammad Munaf

Who is Mohammad Munaf?

Mohammed Munaf is an Iraqi-American terrorist convicted in 2008 for his role in the March 2005 kidnapping of three Romanian journalists in Iraq; he is currently at large but is the subject of an INTERPOL red notice. He has been convicted of terrorism charges in Romania but has not yet been brought to Romania to serve his sentence, although Iraq's foreign minister, Hoshyar Zebari, pledged in April 2011 to cooperate with his extradition to Romania. In addition to his conviction in Romania, he was sentenced to death by an Iraqi court in October 2006 for his involvement in the kidnapping of the Romanian journalists in 2005, but his conviction was vacated on technical grounds by the Iraqi Court of Cassation on February 29, 2008, and remanded to the lower court for retrial. His habeas corpus petition to prevent his transfer to the Iraqi government was heard by the U.S. Supreme Court, which denied certiorari; the U.S. Court of Appeals ruling in Munaf v. Geren, which rejected Munaf's claims and ruled that his transfer to Iraqi custody was legally valid, was therefore allowed to stand.