Kidnappings, torture and death! What else does an Iraqi see or hear everyday? Even outside Iraq, Iraqis are haunted by reading what is going on there. One of the means that makes me connected to my country is the internet. Yesterday, a friend of mine emailed me and told me about the kidnapping of one of his friends. The kidnapped young man is a reporter and works for an Iraqi media news agency. Here is what happened in my friends own words:
I kept the names of the reporters and the news agency anonymous for their own protection.
"Hi ****
A friend of Mine who works in [a news agency] was kidnapped yesterday and tortured and then was released at the last moment in Sadr City.
This is how the story went according to his brother for I have not seen the guy himself yet. The [news agency] received a phone call asking for a [reporter] to head to their office in Sadr city in Baghdad to cover a conference over there. The [news agency] first asked for some people to come and escort the crew into Sadr City , but the high ranking Sadr official told them that they will be secure all the way to the office. The crew went there and they did cover the conference. As they were leaving the office, few meters from the office and inside Sadr City, 9 cars came and snatched [the reporters] and released the driver thinking that he might be a taxi driver and not with the crew. The driver immediately informed the [news agency] who immediately called the high ranking Sadr official.
[The reporters] were blind folded and handcuffed and were taken to a house in Sadr city. He was beaten and tortured there and was asked wither he was a Sunni or a Shiite. He was saved because he carried a copy of his Father’s ID card which says that he is from Ummara ( even though that he is Sunni but they did not know that) he told them that his Father is a Shiite from Ummara and he did talk to them about Ummara for he dose know it very well. He was asked wither his mother is a Sunni or a Shiite. He told them that his mother is a Sunni. They kept cursing his father and calling him bad names for marrying a Sunni.
Mean while the Sadr office was looking for [the reporter] and they told the [news agency] not to worry for they will find him. After the one hour torture, suddenly the men who were beating [the reporter] started to apologize to him and set him free along with the [other reporter]. He told his brother that when he got out of the house he found himself in the middle of Sadr city and there were kids playing right in front of that very same house. He took a Taxi and went back to the [news agency] and did the report on the Sadr office Conference which he went there to do in the first place.
The High ranking official from the Sadr office called him after that report was [shown up] and told him that there was a group which was present at the conference who did not like his [news agency] and not him personally that made all this.
This is what I heard from [the reporter’s] brother."
I kept the names of the reporters and the news agency anonymous for their own protection.
"Hi ****
A friend of Mine who works in [a news agency] was kidnapped yesterday and tortured and then was released at the last moment in Sadr City.
This is how the story went according to his brother for I have not seen the guy himself yet. The [news agency] received a phone call asking for a [reporter] to head to their office in Sadr city in Baghdad to cover a conference over there. The [news agency] first asked for some people to come and escort the crew into Sadr City , but the high ranking Sadr official told them that they will be secure all the way to the office. The crew went there and they did cover the conference. As they were leaving the office, few meters from the office and inside Sadr City, 9 cars came and snatched [the reporters] and released the driver thinking that he might be a taxi driver and not with the crew. The driver immediately informed the [news agency] who immediately called the high ranking Sadr official.
[The reporters] were blind folded and handcuffed and were taken to a house in Sadr city. He was beaten and tortured there and was asked wither he was a Sunni or a Shiite. He was saved because he carried a copy of his Father’s ID card which says that he is from Ummara ( even though that he is Sunni but they did not know that) he told them that his Father is a Shiite from Ummara and he did talk to them about Ummara for he dose know it very well. He was asked wither his mother is a Sunni or a Shiite. He told them that his mother is a Sunni. They kept cursing his father and calling him bad names for marrying a Sunni.
Mean while the Sadr office was looking for [the reporter] and they told the [news agency] not to worry for they will find him. After the one hour torture, suddenly the men who were beating [the reporter] started to apologize to him and set him free along with the [other reporter]. He told his brother that when he got out of the house he found himself in the middle of Sadr city and there were kids playing right in front of that very same house. He took a Taxi and went back to the [news agency] and did the report on the Sadr office Conference which he went there to do in the first place.
The High ranking official from the Sadr office called him after that report was [shown up] and told him that there was a group which was present at the conference who did not like his [news agency] and not him personally that made all this.
This is what I heard from [the reporter’s] brother."
