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 West Asia. Located in the centre of the Middle East, it covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries ...

. 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 in 1973.

Abduction and death

On June 12, 2004, Johnson, who worked for

Lockheed Martin The Lockheed Martin Corporation is an American Arms industry, defense and aerospace manufacturer with worldwide interests. It was formed by the merger of Lockheed Corporation with Martin Marietta on March 15, 1995. It is headquartered in North ...

on upgrading Saudi AH-64A Apache attack helicopters, was stopped at a fake police checkpoint near Riyadh and then abducted. His kidnappers called themselves

Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula ( or : Tanẓīm Qā‘idat al-Jihād fī Jazīrat al-‘Arab, . Organization of Jihad's Base in the Arabian Peninsula), or AQAP is a Sunni Islam, Sunni Islamic extremism, Islamist militant organization which s ...

. The group, headed by Abdel Aziz al-Muqrin, 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. 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 The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

journalists Frank Gardner and Simon Cumbers had been shot, and two other Americans had also been shot in Riyadh. Sultan Al Haseri was later to be described as taking a role in Johnson's kidnapping and murder. He was subsequently listed on Saudi Arabia's list of most wanted terrorist suspects and killed in a shootout in July 2005.

Videotaped killing

At 17:30

UTC Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) is the primary time standard globally used to regulate clocks and time. It establishes a reference for the current time, forming the basis for civil time and time zones. UTC facilitates international communica ...

on June 18, Al-Arabiya and

CNN Cable News Network (CNN) is a multinational news organization operating, most notably, a website and a TV channel headquartered in Atlanta. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable ne ...

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 is the capital and largest city of Saudi Arabia. It is also the capital of the Riyadh Province and the centre of the Riyadh Governorate. Located on the eastern bank of Wadi Hanifa, the current form of the metropolis largely emerged in th ...

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 Daniel Pearl (October 10, 1963 – February 1, 2002) was an American journalist who worked for ''The Wall Street Journal.'' On January 23, 2002, he was kidnapped by Jihadism, jihadist militants while he was on his way to what he had expected wou ...

, who was killed in

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

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, also known as GTMO ( ), GITMO ( ), or simply Guantanamo Bay, is a United States military prison within Naval Station Guantanamo Bay (NSGB), on the coast of Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. It was established in 2002 by p ...

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 Beheading videos Islamism-related beheadings Filmed executions Formerly missing American people Kidnapped American people 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