Aban Abdel Malek Mahmoud Elias was an
Iraqi American
Iraqi Americans (Arabic: أمريكيون عراقيون) are American citizens of Iraqi descent. As of 2023, the number of Iraqi Americans is around 155,055, according to the United States Census Bureau.
According to the Bureau of Citizenship ...
civil engineer
A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering – the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructure while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing i ...
who was born in Iraq, lived in
Denver, Colorado
Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...
, then returned to Iraq to help the people build back the country from the mass destructions that happened in the war with Iran. According to this brother, Elias worked with a relative on road projects.
He was kidnapped on May 3, 2004, near his home in
Baghdad
Baghdad ( or ; , ) is the capital and List of largest cities of Iraq, largest city of Iraq, located along the Tigris in the central part of the country. With a population exceeding 7 million, it ranks among the List of largest cities in the A ...
. He was shown being held hostage in a video on
Al Arabiya
Arabiya (, transliterated: '; meaning "The Arabic One" or "The Arab One") is a Saudi state-owned international Arabic news television channel. It is based in Riyadh and is a subsidiary of MBC Group.
The channel is a flagship of the media c ...
television station. While blindfolded and posed against a stone wall, he was shown pleading for help. A transcript provided by Al Arabiya quoted him as saying in English:
As an engineer working on road projects in Iraq, he would reportedly coordinate with the Pentagon. He has not been seen or heard from since. Aban Elias was married and had three sons, who were aged 1, 4 and 6 at the time of his kidnapping.
See also
*
List of kidnappings
The following is a list of kidnappings summarizing the events of each case, including instances of celebrity abductions, claimed hoaxes, suspected kidnappings, extradition abductions, and mass kidnappings.
By date
* List of kidnappings befo ...
*
List of people who disappeared
{{Short description, Lists of people of unknown locations and statusLists of people who disappeared include those whose current whereabouts are unknown, or whose deaths are unsubstantiated:
Many people who disappear are eventually declared dead ' ...
References
External links
Templates storyNBC News
2000s missing person cases
American people of Iraqi descent
Iraqi civil engineers
Missing person cases in Iraq
Year of birth missing
{{Iraq-bio-stub