ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — An activist kidnapped during Iraq's protests has responded to a viral video of her released on Monday in which she claimed to have slept with an Iraqi MP, saying she was held at gunpoint and forced to shoot the video during her captivity.
A video of Iraqi activist Mary Mohammed went viral on social media on Monday, in which she spoke about her alleged relationship with Iraqi MP Abdullah Al-Kharbit of the Qarar coalition.
In a Tuesday interview with al-Hadath, Mohammed claimed she was forced to film the video while she was held by an armed group following her abduction last November.
"I was held at gunpoint and forced to shoot the video. The video is long and I did not only talk about Abdullah, but only that part was published," she told Al Hadath in tears. "I do not even know MP Sheikh Abdullah at all. It is not possible for me to talk about him in such a bad way."
"I refused to do the video, and they said they would kill me if I did not do it," she added. "They told me that they would not even publish those videos unless you go back to the protests, and that is when I accepted to do it."
Mary Mohammed was amongst thousands of Iraqis who took to the streets on October 2019, demanding reform and an end to corruption.
She was kidnapped on November 8 2019 near Tahrir Square in Baghdad by an unknown group and was held for eleven days.
Since the beginning of Iraq's nationwide protests on October 1, at least 121 activists have been kidnapped or assassinated, Ali al-Bayati, a member of the Iraqi High Commission for Human Rights, said back in January.
Several women have been kidnapped or killed for taking part in the protest movement.
Fitness trainer and prominent activist Reham Yacoub was shot dead by gunmen in Basra in August.
Human rights monitor Amnesty International estimates that at least 600 protesters and members of the security forces have been killed in the protests, with more than 18,000 injured.
