Female Journalist Kidnapped From Her Home In Iraq

An Iraqi female journalist who has vigorously campaigned against widespread corruption in Iraq was kidnapped from her home in Baghdad.

Afrah Shawqi al-Qaisi, 43, was kidnapped on Monday night by men who claimed to be security guards. She works for the Asharq al-Awsat newspaper and is an employee at the Iraqi culture ministry.

On Monday, she published an article in which she criticized an Interior Ministry officer who beat a school principle in the city of Nasiriyiah in front of  children and teachers because the principal refused to punish a student who fought with his daughter.

According to al-Qaisi’s family, eight gunmen in two trucks came to her house, asked to search it, and kidnapped her.

Ziyad al-Ajeeli, the head of the Baghdad-based Journalistic Freedoms Observatory said that the gunmen tied upal-Qaisi’s 16-year-old son, assaulted her brother-in-law, and stole valuables from her house.

Iraq is one of the most dangerous places in the world for journalists. According to Reporters Without Borders, seven journalists have been killed in Iraq this year.

Read the story here: “Iraq gunmen kidnap campaigning female journalist”

BBC, December 27, 2016

Afrah Shawqi al-Qaisi was taken from her home in the Saidiya district of the capital, Baghdad, on Monday night by men claiming to be security personnel.

Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has ordered security forces to “exert the utmost effort” to save her.

On Monday, Ms Qaisi wrote an article in which she expressed anger that armed groups could act with impunity.

“There is nothing worse in a country than humiliating a teacher; nothing is worse than neglect by those who carry weapons,” Ms Qaisi wrote. “If the state is anxious to preserve its prestige, it should hold accountable whoever uses weapons illicitly.”

Ms Qaisi, 43, works for the London-based pan-Arab newspaper Asharq al-Awsat and a number of other local news websites.