Iraqi journalist kidnapped by gunmen
IRAQ - Gunmen have kidnapped an Iraqi journalist after posing as members of the security forces and bursting into her home in Baghdad, according to authorities.
Afrah Shawqi Hammudi was abducted on Monday from her home in a southern neighbourhood of the capital, said Ziad al-Ajili, the head of the Journalistic Freedoms Observatory. “Eight armed men burst into her house in Saidiya dressed in plain clothes and entered by pretending to belong to the security forces,” he told Agence France-Presse. “They tied up her son and stole mobile phones, computers and cash before kidnapping Afrah and fleeing.” The report was confirmed by a source in Iraq’s interior ministry who spoke on condition of anonymity. Hammudi, 43, is employed by Asharq alAwsat, a London-based panArab newspaper, as well as a number of news websites, including Aklaam. She published a stinging article on the website in which she hit out at the armed groups that “act with impunity” in Iraq.
The prime minister, Haider alAbadi, condemned her abduction and ordered the security services to do their utmost to find her and track down those responsible. Iraq is one of the most dangerous countries in the world for journalists. Seven were killed in the country in 2016, the press freedom group Reporters Without Borders said last week.
(Theguardian.com)