Iraq PM visits pro-democracy activist after abduction, assault

Ali al-Mikdam, critical of pro-Iran armed factions, was found in a wounded state two days after he disappeared.

Iraq’s Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi on Sunday visited a pro-democracy activist in a Baghdad hospital two days after the campaigner, critical of pro-Iran armed factions operating in the country, had been abducted and assaulted. Ali al-Mikdam, a young Iraqi journalist, activist and researcher, had disappeared on Friday, sparking widespread concern from his friends and supporters, before he was released late on Saturday, injured, on the outskirts of Baghdad. A tweet from Kadhimi’s office said the prime minister had checked up “on the health of journalist and activist Ali al-Mikdam in one of Baghdad’s hospitals after security forces released him from his kidnappers”.