Hadi al-Mahdi

Hadi al-Mahdi (ca. 1967 – 8 September 2011) was an Iraqi freelance journalist and radio talk show host of To Whoever Listens, which was broadcast by Radio Demozy (104.01 FM) out of Baghdad Iraq. He was assassinated in his home.

He was a well known, outspoken critic of the Iraqi government, known for tackling subjects other journalists would not discuss. He was known for criticizing the Iraqi government for being corrupt, not distributing water and food to its citizens, and the country's ineffective educational system. He was becoming more widely known for organizing and participating in anti-government 2011 Iraqi protests.

On 8 September 2011, the day before nationwide protests against the Iraqi government were set to take place, Mahdi was shot twice in the head at his home in the Al-Karada neighborhood of Baghdad. He had made references in his writings and in his latest radio broadcasts that he had received written threats on his life and threatening phone calls. Mahdi had been the host of a radio show that aired three times a week, but he had not made a show in two months out of a need for safety. Reports indicate that none of his valuables had been taken from his house, further solidifying that his murder was motivated by his political stances.

In The New York Times, the Committee to Protect Journalists said that 95 journalists had been murdered since 2001 without any convictions.

Mahdi attended Iraq's Academy of Fine Arts in 1989. After his studies, Mahdi took refuge in Syria and from there Sweden. He returned to Iraq in 2007 after 18 years. In Iraq, he hosted the radio show To Whoever listens for Radio Demozy, an independent station, a year later.