The Iraqi Information Center for Research and Development has started a campaign demanding the immediate release of Omar Al-Amri and Salman Al-Mansoori, who were arrested or kidnapped on a mission to purchase tents and other needs for the peaceful protesters in Tahrir Square, in Baghdad
They left home on Wednesday morning and headed towards the Kadhmiya neighborhood to buy equipment for the protests in Tahrir Square, but did not arrive. The mobile phones of both activists had been turned off since Wednesday evening, the NRT Digital Media reporter Omed Mohammed reported.
“They were arrested by a government agency, wich took them to an unknown destination, according to the information we got” – the Information Center says in a call, stressing its deep concern about their colleagues .
Workers in thecenter and activists in the Iraqi Social Forum movement, the two men are peaceful demonstrators demanding rights and comprehensive change, which should to contribute to improving the conditions of the country.
According the center, Salman works as an environmental activist defending the Iraqi rivers, the marshes and the right of Iraq to obtain its adequate share of water. Omar is one of the activists defending human rights, economic and social rights as well as his organizational activity in the Marathon Baghdad for Peace, the annual civil event.
At the beginning of October, Iraqi protesters took to the streets demanding the end of corruption, better public services, and employment. Day by day, the unrest has become a more general uprising seeking the ouster of the Iraq’s political establishment.
The NRT reported that more than 400 people have been killed in Baghdad and provinces in the south. Thousands have been injured in the unrest as the government and “third party groups” have used live ammunition, snipers, and tear gas in an attempt put down the protests.
Iraqi media reported on Wednesday that prominent activist Ali Lami, who was from the southeastern city of Kut, was abducted and killed in the Iraqi capital on Tuesday night as he left the protests to go home.
Another prominent civil society activist, Fahem al-Tai, was killed in a drive-by shooting in Karbala late Sunday while returning home from protests.
In a statement, the Iraqi Information Center calls for the immediate release of Omar Al-Amri and Salman Al-Mansoori, since they are peace activists. The text also includes an appeal to other organizations to speak out and demand the release of the two missing:
“We also call on human rights organizations and defenders of domestic and international human rights to join hands with us in order to release our colleagues, Omar and Salman”
Check out the Center note calling for solidarity (in Arabic and English): _.pdf