BAGHDAD: A prominent Iraqi blogger resurfaced Friday a day after he was seized by masked gunmen, his father said, as Amnesty International denounced a “climate of fear” in the country after protests and deadly violence.
Shujaa Al-Khafaji’s family said armed men had snatched him from his home on Thursday without identifying themselves or showing an arrest warrant.
Khafaji’s Facebook page, Al-Khowa Al-Nadifa (Arabic for “Those Who Have Clean Hands“), carries posts on political and social issues and has some 2.5 million followers.
“Around 15 men wearing masks and black uniforms” took Khafaji from his home, the blogger’s father, Fares Al-Khafaji, told AFP.
He said they seized his son’s phones and computers, but were not violent.
Twenty-four hours later, Khafaji was “abandoned in a street with $20 to pay for a taxi home,” his father added.
The report of Khafaji’s seizure sparked an outcry from activists and influential political leaders.
Rights watchdog Amnesty International denounced a “relentless campaign of intimidation and assault against activists in Iraq” by authorities.
“The Iraqi authorities must immediately rein in the security forces and dismantle the climate of fear they have deliberately created to stop Iraqis from peacefully exercising their rights to freedoms of expression and assembly,” said Lynn Maalouf, the group’s Middle East research director.
The group said other activists, including a doctor and a lawyer, were “forcibly disappeared more than 10 days ago,” and called on Iraqi authorities to reveal their whereabouts.
Firebrand Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr wrote on Twitter that “any act of aggression (against journalists or activists)... by the state constitutes an attack on freedom of speech.”
Former prime minister Haider Al-Abadi’s parliamentary bloc called on the government “to stop abuses of free media.”
Iraq was gripped by anti-government protests between October 1 and 6, during which 110 people, mainly demonstrators, were killed in clashes with security forces.
During the protests, unidentified armed men in uniforms raided several local television stations in Baghdad, destroying their equipment and intimidating their staff.
Journalists and activists also reported receiving threats, mostly by phone, from unidentified callers accusing them of having sided with the protesters.
Khafaji faced online harassment last month after a string of attacks on bases of the Hashed Al-Shaabi, a paramilitary force dominated by pro-Iran groups.
The group on Thursday denied any involvement in the disappearance of activists, threatening legal action against anyone making such accusations.
But according to Amnesty, the Hashed was involved in at least one abduction — that of lawyer Ali Hattab, who represented protesters and was seized on October 8 in the southern city of Amara.
He was snatched by “suspected members of a faction of the Popular Mobilization Units (Hashed),” Amnesty said quoting Hattab’s relatives.
It happened two days after “two armed men from the PMU came to (his) home to warn him to stop being vocal about the killing of protesters on Facebook, otherwise they would kill him,” Amnesty added.
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Iraqi blogger returns day after kidnapping
Iraqi blogger returns day after kidnapping
- “Around 15 men wearing masks and black uniforms” took Al-Khafaji from his home, the blogger’s father said
- Twenty-four hours later, hei was “abandoned in a street with $20 to pay for a taxi home”
Lebanon says 7 killed in Israeli strike on central Beirut
Beirut, Lebanon: Lebanon said an Israeli strike on central Beirut’s seafront killed at least seven people early on Thursday, another attack in the heart of the capital as Iran-backed Hezbollah launched more missiles at Israel.
The Israeli military said separately it had carried out strikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs overnight against Hezbollah, which had announced a major new operation against Israel.
Local media aired footage showing smoke rising along the seaside road area after the strike in central Beirut, which state-run National News Agency (NNA) said targeted a car.
“The Israeli enemy strike on Ramlet Al-Bayda in Beirut led to an initial toll of seven dead and 21 wounded,” the health ministry said in a statement.
It was the third attack in the heart of the capital since the Middle East war began. Israel has also repeatedly hit the southern suburbs of Beirut where Israeli military said on Thursday it had hit 10 Hezbollah targets.
The NNA reported on Thursday that Israeli strikes had also hit several towns in southern Lebanon, including Taybeh and Al-Sultaniyya as well as Qana, near the city of Tyre.
Hezbollah said early Thursday that it had fired off missiles at an Israeli military intelligence base in the suburbs of Tel Aviv.
Lebanon was drawn into the Middle East war last week when Hezbollah attacked Israel in response to the killing of Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in US-Israeli strikes.
Israel, which kept up its strikes in Lebanon even before the war despite a 2024 ceasefire with Hezbollah, has since launched air raids across Lebanon and sent ground troops into border areas.
Its offensive has killed more than 630 people, according to Lebanese authorities, while more than 800,000 people have registered as displaced, with around 126,000 of them staying in collective shelters.
Some displaced people have been sleeping out in the open or in tents on the streets of Beirut, including in the seaside area of Ramlet Al-Bayda.
- Hezbollah operation -
Late Wednesday, French President Emmanuel Macron called for Israel to halt its ground offensive in Lebanon and on Iran-backed group Hezbollah to “immediately” stop attacks, after speaking with the country’s president Joseph Aoun.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said earlier that they had carried out a joint missile operation with ally Hezbollah against targets in Israel.
In turn, the Israeli military said early Thursday that “over the past hours, the IDF has begun a wide-scale wave of strikes targeting terror infrastructure belonging to the Hezbollah terrorist organization across Lebanon.”
It also said it hit “dozens of launchers” as well as Hezbollah intelligence and command sites in south Beirut.
It followed a string of Hezbollah statements saying its fighters fired barrages of rockets, advanced missiles and drones at towns, military bases and other locations, mainly in the Israel’s north.
On Wednesday, Israel pounded south Beirut and the country’s south and east, with the health ministry reporting several strikes that each killed at least eight people.
Authorities said a strike on an apartment in the densely populated Aisha Bakkar area in central Beirut wounded four people.
On Sunday, Israel hit a seafront hotel not far from Ramlet Al-Bayda, saying it was targeting Iranian foreign operations officers. Iran later said the raid killed four of its diplomats.
The Israeli military said separately it had carried out strikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs overnight against Hezbollah, which had announced a major new operation against Israel.
Local media aired footage showing smoke rising along the seaside road area after the strike in central Beirut, which state-run National News Agency (NNA) said targeted a car.
“The Israeli enemy strike on Ramlet Al-Bayda in Beirut led to an initial toll of seven dead and 21 wounded,” the health ministry said in a statement.
It was the third attack in the heart of the capital since the Middle East war began. Israel has also repeatedly hit the southern suburbs of Beirut where Israeli military said on Thursday it had hit 10 Hezbollah targets.
The NNA reported on Thursday that Israeli strikes had also hit several towns in southern Lebanon, including Taybeh and Al-Sultaniyya as well as Qana, near the city of Tyre.
Hezbollah said early Thursday that it had fired off missiles at an Israeli military intelligence base in the suburbs of Tel Aviv.
Lebanon was drawn into the Middle East war last week when Hezbollah attacked Israel in response to the killing of Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in US-Israeli strikes.
Israel, which kept up its strikes in Lebanon even before the war despite a 2024 ceasefire with Hezbollah, has since launched air raids across Lebanon and sent ground troops into border areas.
Its offensive has killed more than 630 people, according to Lebanese authorities, while more than 800,000 people have registered as displaced, with around 126,000 of them staying in collective shelters.
Some displaced people have been sleeping out in the open or in tents on the streets of Beirut, including in the seaside area of Ramlet Al-Bayda.
- Hezbollah operation -
Late Wednesday, French President Emmanuel Macron called for Israel to halt its ground offensive in Lebanon and on Iran-backed group Hezbollah to “immediately” stop attacks, after speaking with the country’s president Joseph Aoun.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said earlier that they had carried out a joint missile operation with ally Hezbollah against targets in Israel.
In turn, the Israeli military said early Thursday that “over the past hours, the IDF has begun a wide-scale wave of strikes targeting terror infrastructure belonging to the Hezbollah terrorist organization across Lebanon.”
It also said it hit “dozens of launchers” as well as Hezbollah intelligence and command sites in south Beirut.
It followed a string of Hezbollah statements saying its fighters fired barrages of rockets, advanced missiles and drones at towns, military bases and other locations, mainly in the Israel’s north.
On Wednesday, Israel pounded south Beirut and the country’s south and east, with the health ministry reporting several strikes that each killed at least eight people.
Authorities said a strike on an apartment in the densely populated Aisha Bakkar area in central Beirut wounded four people.
On Sunday, Israel hit a seafront hotel not far from Ramlet Al-Bayda, saying it was targeting Iranian foreign operations officers. Iran later said the raid killed four of its diplomats.
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