Press sources told Al Mayadeen on Tuesday that Ali Mahmoud, a genocide activist and member of the Kurdistan Genocide Writers Union (KGWU) supreme founding board, was arrested by the authorities of Erbil in the Iraqi Kurdistan region.

Ali Mahmoud is a Kurdish writer and activist who publishes political articles in many Kurdish newspapers and magazines in the Iraqi Kurdistan region.

The sources indicated that the authorities stormed Mahmoud's house at dawn today and took him to an unknown destination.

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His arrest was due to "a press comment" he gave earlier to, "one of the local stations regarding the executive positions in the region," the informed sources added, noting that, based on circulating information, the side that arrested Mahmoud was the internal security forces, the Asayish.

The Metro Center for Journalists Rights and Advocacy in the region called on the security authorities in Erbil to release the activist, describing the declared reasons for his arrest as "unconvincing".

The rights group said in a statement that a security force raided this morning the home of civil activist Ali Mahmoud in the city of Erbil.

For its part, the KGWU announced the "abduction" of their board member Ali Mahmoud from his home in Erbil.

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