Iraqi activist found dead amid anti-government protests

An Iraqi activist was found dead on Wednesday, hours after disappearing amid mass protests against corruption and living conditions, according to a local security source.

Ali Najm al Lami disappeared on Tuesday while he was returning home from Tahrir Square, the epicentre of anti-government protests in the capital, Baghdad.

"His body was found near his home on Wednesday with gunshot wounds in his head," the source said on condition of anonymity due to restrictions on speaking to the media.

On Sunday, another activist was shot dead by two gunmen, while two other activists survived attacks on their lives in Karbala and Amara in southern Iraq.

Iraq has been rocked by mass protests since early October, leaving 485 Iraqis dead and 17,000 injured, according to Iraq's High Commission for Human Rights.

On December 1, the Iraqi parliament accepted the resignation of Prime Minister Adil Abdul Mahdi amid protests against corruption and poor living conditions. 

Families fear worst after protesters abducted

Late Friday, unidentified gunmen stormed and torched the multi-storey building known as al Sinek Garage, where anti-government protesters had camped out for weeks.

At least 20 protesters and four police officers were killed in the melee, said medical sources, while about 80 demonstrators were abducted.

"They filled up two charter buses with people from Al Sinek," said Yousef al Harbi, an activist who was in the building when it was attacked.

Amer, a 26-year-old demonstrator, said he was nearby when gunshots began echoing from the building, so he called friends he knew were inside.

"Mustafa picked up and said, 'things are really bad, they're shooting at us.' He hung up and his phone turned off," Amer, using a pseudonym as he has faced threats, said.

"We've called everyone – from the government to the militias", Amer said.

Security forces say none of the demonstrators were taken into custody, while pro-Iran armed groups blamed by protesters for Friday's killings swore they had no role in the violence.

Masked men

Nineteen-year-old Sajad was among those abducted by bus on Friday night.

His family heard nothing from him until he reappeared outside his home on Tuesday morning after being held by masked men for three days.

"They drove for about three-quarters of an hour and then their captors handed them over to another group," said his father, Rahim. 

"They were asked for their names, their parents' names and their addresses," Rahim said, declining to use his full name for fear of reprisals.

The description of where they were held – on a tributary of the Tigris on Baghdad's northeast outskirts – corresponds to where other Iraqis say they were detained.

"It's a place overlooking the Diyala" tributary, Iraqi blogger Chojaa al Khafaji said after he was taken to the same place on the back of being abducted from his home in October.

There masked men in black uniforms took his phones after a brief interrogation. After 24 hours, they left Khafaji in a poor district of Baghdad with $20 to return home by taxi.

Sajad had to wait 72 hours until he was released with about 30 other protesters in the middle of the night on a road outside Baghdad.

Sajad was not beaten, his father said. But others abducted from the protest encampment were less fortunate.

According to security sources, at least 35 young men taken from Al Sinek were later found by Iraqi security forces along the bank of the Tigris, blindfolded and with their hands tied.

Footage confirmed as authentic by security forces shows about two dozen young men, many of them wrapped in bloody bandages after being taken into government custody.

"They beat us so much," one could be heard crying.

'Everyone is too afraid' 

Since October 1, demonstrators in Baghdad and southern cities have disappeared almost daily.

In most cases, they are taken from near their homes as they return from protests.

Their relatives fear the worst.

Last week, the bruised body of a 19-year-old protester was dumped outside her home in Baghdad, while on Sunday a prominent Karbala activist was shot dead by a gunman riding on the back of a motorbike.

Abductions have continued and at dawn on Saturday, more protesters were taken from the Tigris riverfront as they drove home from Tahrir.

In view of nearby policemen, two pick-ups carrying masked men shot in the air and chased down the six protesters as they tried to flee their vehicle, according to one witness.

In Iraq, where militias and sectarian violence killed tens of thousands in the 2000s, kidnappings have long been common.

But "you used to be able to find out who took them," and for a ransom obtain their release, said Haydar, whose 23-year-old cousin was recently kidnapped for several days in Baghdad.

"Now you don't know at all. Everyone is too afraid."