Protectors of Islam Brigade was a previously unknown group that was responsible for the bizarre kidnapping of a supposed journalist in Iraq in 2005. <P><br /><br />In March 2005, Time magazine received a video that showed a man identifying himself as Hassan al-Zaydi, a journalist and German citizen.  In the video Al-Zaydi pleaded for German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder to intervene on his behalf. His kidnappers, calling themselves the Protectors of Islam, demanded the release of all Muslims from German prisons and called for Germany to cut off ties with the interim Iraqi government. <P><br /><br />After an investigation by German authorities, it emerged that al-Zaydi was not in fact a German citizen, but was an Iraqi who had unsuccessfully sought asylum in Germany during an earlier stay in the country.  Oddly enough, al-Zaydi was already known to Germany security officials for having ties to a group of Iraqi dissidents who had stormed the Iraqi embassy in Germany during the Saddam Hussein regime.  After the release of the video, nothing further was heard from Protectors of Islam, and the fate of al-Zaydi remains unknown.  <P><br /><br />Kidnappings are extremely common in post-war Iraq.  Some are motivated by ideology and politics, while many are simple criminal acts for money. The al-Zaydi situation is particularly confusing because it does not seem to fit in to either category.  The kidnappers did not publicly demand ransom for their hostage, but it seems odd that any ideology would lead the group to target Germany (who had opposed the Iraq war).  Furthermore, unless al-Zaydi had lied to his captors, the group must have known that their hostage was an Iraqi citizen, and not a German.  Another theory is that al-Zaydi and his captors were working together to swindle ransom money out of the German government. However, there is no proof to support this possibility, particularly since no public ransom demand was given. <P><br /><br />In any case, information surrounding the Protectors of Islam and the al-Zaydi kidnapping is sketchy at best.  Although the name of the group, and demands made in their video suggest that the organization is religiously-motivated, there is an ample chance that the group was merely a criminal gang.  <P><br />