El-Sherif was abducted on July 3, 2005, when he stepped out of his car in Baghdad to buy a newspaper.
[1] The al-Qaeda in Iraq organization, run by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, once Iraq's most wanted militant, posted a message on the internet on July 6, 2005, which stated: "The Islamic court of the al-Qaeda Organization in the Land of Two Rivers has decided to refer the ambassador of the state of Egypt, an ally of the Jews and the Christians, to the mujahideen so that they can execute him."
Earlier that day, the group had posted photos of Sherif's identification cards.
[2] On July 7, 2005, al-Qaeda in Iraq uploaded to the internet a video of Sherif blindfolded, giving his name and address and acknowledging that he once worked as a diplomat in Israel.
[3] On July 14, 2005, United States troops arrested Khamis Farhan Khalaf and al-Fahdawi, the alleged al-Qaida leader suspected to be responsible for Sherif's murder.