Paul Marshall Johnson, Jr. 729868 214930777 2008-05-25T23:17:12Z Good Olfactory 6454287 Quick-adding category "Terrorism deaths in Saudi Arabia" (using [[WP:HOTCAT|HotCat]]) {{unreferenced|date=May 2008}} [[Image:Paul Marshall Johnson Jr.jpg|A family photo of Johnson.|200px|right|thumb]] '''Paul Marshall Johnson, Jr.''' ([[May 8]], [[1955]] - [[circa|c.]] June 18, [[2004]]) was an [[United States|American]] [[helicopter]] engineer who lived in [[Saudi Arabia]]. He was a native of [[Stafford Township, New Jersey|Stafford Township]] and [[Eagleswood Township, New Jersey|Eagleswood Township]], both of [[New Jersey]]. In 2004, he was taken hostage by terrorists and murdered on video tape. Johnson, who worked for [[Lockheed Martin]] on upgrading Saudi [[AH-64 Apache|AH-64A Apache]] attack helicopters, was [[kidnapping|kidnapped]] and taken [[hostage]] by a terrorist group claiming to be part of [[Al-Qaeda|Al-Qaida]]. The group, headed by [[Abdel Aziz al-Muqrin]], posted a video of Johnson on an [[Islamism|Islamist]] website on [[June 15]], [[2004]]. Johnson was blindfolded, and a man armed with an [[AK-47]] could be seen next to him. The video is about two minutes long. Johnson made some statements similar to the ones made by [[Nick Berg]] before Berg was killed (not long before Johnson was taken hostage). After making the statements, the next shot is the beheading already in progress. He is lying on a bed with about three men holding him down as one militant severs his head. Unlike the Berg and [[Eugene Armstrong ]] videos, there is no screaming. The video was also similar to that of [[Daniel Pearl]], who was killed in [[Pakistan]] in [[2002]], and [[Kim Sun-il]], a [[South Korea]]n who was killed in Iraq during the same month not long after Johnson was killed in Saudi Arabia. The video was released on the same day that [[Abdullah of Saudi Arabia|Crown Prince Abdullah]] promised to step up security and investigations against militant Islamic groups in Saudi Arabia. Johnson was described by his son, Paul Johnson III, as a lover of Saudi Arabian culture who often sent verses of the [[Qur'an|Qur'an]] to his daughter. <!-- Deleted image removed: [[Image:PaulJohnson.jpg|250px|left|thumb]] --> 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 terrorists being held in Saudi custody. At 17h30 [[UTC]] on [[June 18]], [[Al-Arabiya]] and [[CNN]] reported that Johnson had been [[Decapitation|beheaded]]. This report is based on three photographs of the [[murder]] posted on the [[Internet]]. Saudi officials initially claimed to have discovered Johnson's body near [[Riyadh]] later that day, but on [[June 19]] those claims were withdrawn. The Saudi government withheld official proclamation of Johnson's death until the body was found. [[HostingAnime]], the company which hosts images and video of his murder, have defended showing his beheading. On [[July 21]] 2004, Saudi security officials found Johnson's head in a refrigerator in a villa in [[Riyadh]], Saudi Arabia. ==See also== * [[2003 invasion of Iraq]] * [[Human rights situation in post-Saddam Iraq]] * [[Decapitation]] ** [[Daniel Pearl]] ** [[Nick Berg]] ** [[Kim Sun-il]] ** [[Eugene Armstrong]] ** [[Jack Hensley]] ** [[Kenneth Bigley]] ** [[Shosei Koda]] ** [[Fabrizio Quattrocchi]] {{Persondata |NAME=Johnson, Paul Marshall, Jr. |ALTERNATIVE NAMES= |SHORT DESCRIPTION=American terrorist victim |DATE OF BIRTH=[[May 8]], [[1955]] |PLACE OF BIRTH= |DATE OF DEATH=circa [[June 18]], [[2004]] |PLACE OF DEATH=[[Saudi Arabia]] }} [[Category:1955 births|Johnson, Paul Marshall, Jr.]] [[Category:2004 deaths|Johnson, Paul Marshall, Jr.]] [[Category:Deaths by decapitation|Johnson, Paul Marshall, Jr.]] [[Category:American murder victims|Johnson, Paul Marshall, Jr.]] [[Category:Filmed executions|Johnson, Paul Marshall, Jr.]] [[Category:American people taken hostage|Johnson, Paul Marshall, Jr.]] [[Category:American terrorism victims|Johnson, Paul]] [[Category:Terrorism deaths in Saudi Arabia]] [[zh:保罗·约翰逊]]