Calls for protests in southern Iraqi city of Samawah after activist kidnap

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Protesters have called for demonstrations in the city of Samawah, in al-Muthanna governorate, after activist Haider al-Khashan was kidnapped and threatened on Thursday. 

A close friend of Khashan, who asked not to be named, told Rudaw English that a car with four masked people intercepted Khashan's car while he was driving with his mother at one o'clock on Thursday morning. He was then taken to an unknown location and threatened to stop protesting before being released late in the morning.

“The kidnappers took his mother's phone as she had filmed the incident,” the source said.

“The kidnappers investigated Khashan on accusations of insulting Qasem Soleimani and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, which are absolutely false,” said activist Haider Ali.

"The militia’s ways of kidnapping and threatening Samawah protesters will never stop us,” he added. 

Activists launched the ”al-Muthanna rising up” Twitter hashtag after Khashan’s abduction, calling for mass demonstrations on Friday in response to his kidnap and demanding the dismissal of the local government. 

"We ask the police leadership to reveal who kidnapped Haider as soon as possible," tweeted activist Osamah al-Hosseini.

An annual human rights report released by the US State Department on Tuesday accused the Iraqi government of negligence in protecting its citizens and failing to take serious action against Iran-backed militias.

Iran-backed elements of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF, or Hashd al-Shaabi in Arabic) “engaged in killing, kidnapping, and extortion throughout the country, in 2020, the report said, saying Baghdad did not keep a tight grip on security forces."

Activists and journalists have also been kidnapped and assassinated by the PMF and government forces, it said, pointing to the killings of Basra activists and Iraqi analyst Husham al-Hashimi, who was threatened by Iran-backed groups before being gunned down in July.

“The government also did not initiate investigations into the abduction and torture of demonstrators and did not prosecute any perpetrators in relation to such acts, including those committed by non-government militias and criminal groups,” Washington said.

Several other Iraqi provinces have also witnessed recent demonstrations calling for the dismissal of local governments.

The protest movement began in October 2019, calling for improved government services and an end to government corruption. Several hundred protesters have been killed, with activists and journalists assassinated for covering the movement.