On January 31, 2020, Mazen Latif, a renowned writer and journalist, was abducted in the center of Baghdad in broad daylight by a group of gunmen pertaining to the Death Squads (armed groups linked to Iran) in civilian clothes riding in a shaded pick-up truck and taken to an unknown destination. That October, a propaganda group called Sebyan al-Sefara produced an eight-minute clip linking Latif to Israel and accusing him of “offering his services to the Mossad”.

Latif was the editor-in-chief of Nahrai magazine, the most important Iraqi magazine covering Iraqi culture and heritage. Latif was also an active participant in the Tahrir Square protests in Baghdad. As an activist and journalist, Latif became a threat and target of Iranian-backed militias in Iraq. Two years after Latif’s kidnapping there is no trace of him. There are no serious efforts to find him and no one has been held accountable.