Friday, March 29, 2024

Baghdad

Interior Ministry says activists kidnapped in Baghdad freed

 Interior Ministry says activists kidnapped in Baghdad freed

Member of the Iraqi police. File photo.

Member of the Iraqi police. File photo.
Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) Seven student activists, including a reporter, were released on Tuesday after kidnapping by an unidentified armed group, the Iraqi Interior Ministry has said hours after calls by rights groups to name the perpetrators.

Interior Minister Qassem al-Aaraji said in a statement that the seven activists, kidnapped from al-Battawyen area in Baghdad, were set free. He did not name the kidnappers, but the Iraqi Joint Operations Command said it was working to uncover their identities.

AFP had quoted an Interior Ministry adviser saying the activists were released thanks to efforts by the ministry.

Alghad Press quoted a source saying the seven were released from kidnappers, rather than from detention with security authorities, effectively negating rights group’s suspicions of security involvement in the kidnapping.

ON Tuesday, Press Freedom Advocacy Association in Iraq said an armed group, which it did not identify, kidnapped Abdullah Latif, a student rights activist and a reporter for Tareek Alshaab, a mouthpiece of the Iraqi Communist Party.

The organization said the incident took place at al-Saadoun area in Baghdad early Monday. He was among seven other students taken from the same area to an unknown destination.

According to the organization, the incident was indicative of a “serious persecution and oppression of freedoms”.

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