Freedom For Saba Mahdawi: Was the Iraqi Activist and Medic Kidnapped?

Medic and activist Saba Mahdawi, has allegedly been abducted after providing medical aid to injured protesters in Iraq. Demonstrations have spread from the capital Baghdad to cities in the south, with at least three people killed overnight after security forces opened fire on a crowd of protesters.

Translation: “Activist and paramedic Saba Mahdawi was kidnapped in Tahrir Square by unknown assailants on Saturday evening as she returned to her home in Al-Bayaa.”

Mahdawi's mother said she had been abducted by "armed, masked men on pick-up trucks" as she headed home from Tahrir late on Saturday evening.

In her video appeal, she said that her daughter was only there to help and was not affiliated with any political parties. 

The Iraqi Human Rights Commission, which broke the news about her abduction, did not say who may have seized her but urged security forces to investigate the matter and other "organized kidnapping operations" in recent weeks. It described Mahdawi's abduction “a mark of shame for the whole of Iraqi society.”

The Commission demanded authorities to disclose the fate of all activists and take the necessary measures to protect the demonstrators, activists, bloggers, media and journalists from the systematic abductions they are exposed to in Baghdad and the rest of the central and southern provinces in Iraq.

The abduction of the Iraqi activist has highlighted a shift in the course of dealing with the country's popular protest movement. Social media created hashtags demanding for her to return home safe.