Missing child of Baghdad activist returned to family, says Ministry of Interior

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — The son of activist Ayoub al Kazraji, who went missing on Tuesday night, has been returned to his family, according to the Ministry of Interior – a claim denied by his family. 

The ministry claimed the 10-year old, Mohammed, became “lost” in the capital’s Karradah district, leaving his house without notifying his family.

“The truth of the matter is that the child started walking with crowds, which drew the attention of one of the security forces who took the initiative to seize him due to his young age and hand him over to the juvenile police, who immediately handed him over to his grandfather,” the ministry stated.

It published a video of the ministry's media director Major General Saad Maan, with Mohammed, who seemed healthy and said that he was lost.

His grandfather Mohammed Fadhil tweeted that the boy has not been returned to his family as there is no "competent judge" to release the child.

“It was agreed with Major General Maan to return my grandson after filming the video, but the surprise was when they told me the judge refused to hand over the child to me under the pretext that he wasn't able to order the release,” Fadhil tweeted. “I sent a text message to Major General Saad Maan about this matter, but he did not respond to me."

Rudaw English contacted his father Ayoub al-Khazraji on Tuesday night, who said that his son was kidnapped in retaliation for Kazraji’s naming of militias who have threatened him on social media.

He said he had received a message via Instagram asking him to leave Erbil, where he fled late last year, and return to Baghdad in exchange for his son’s release.

“The Ministry of the Interior denies these allegations and lies,” it added in the Wednesday statement.

Khazraji denied the ministry’s narrative, posting the Instagram message he had received to Twitter.

Ayoub, 30, has been an activist since 2011 and participated in the anti-government demonstrations which began in October 2019. He has survived four assassination attempts, the last of which was in September, and received dozens of threats on social media.

He fled to Erbil after receiving another threat in November, saying he would soon be dead.

Muntathar al Zaydi, an Iraqi journalist known for his affiliation with the Sadrist movement, along with the Sabreen News, a telegram channel affiliated with Iranian backed militias, said on Tuesday night Mohammed had not been kidnapped, and his father fabricated the story to seek asylum outside Iraq. 

Khazraji published a video of a chat room on Clubhouse application named “The play of the kidnapped child”. Shiite cleric Muqtada al Sadr purportedly entered the room, saying kidnapping and threatening activists “must be stopped.”

“The issue of kidnappings and assassinations that Tishreen [October] activists are subjected to is rejected by us, and the security and judicial authorities must intervene immediately to protect activists and civilians.” Sadr said on Wednesday.

“I hope that there is no disagreement between the Sadrist movement and Tishreen activists, and that the relationship does not permeate illegal conflicts such as kidnapping, murder or lewd talk, so that the enemy does not exploit them for his own interests,” he added.

Activists are often threatened, kidnapped and killed for their involvement in the protest movement. Hardline units of the Iran-backed Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), known in Arabic as Hashd al-Shaabi, are widely accused of killing many protesters and voices of dissent.

At least 600 protesters and members of the security forces were killed and more than 18,000 injured since the protest movement emerged, Amnesty International said in January 2020.

Several other activists nationwide, including women, have been assassinated or have survived attempts on their lives. Most of the slain activists and journalists had criticized Iran's influence in Iraq, including the deadly role played by Tehran-backed militias.