Description

I was walking home late (around 2:00am) on Al Masyoun road, and had just passed Baghdad market when a yellow car passed me, and then stopped about 100 yards ahead. He hesitated for a moment, and then began reversing toward me. I stared walking in the other direction, hoping that he would just give up and drive away. I could hear the car continuing to approach me quickly (he was reversing as fast as his car would allow), so I turned up the hill onto the road that takes you to the Dream Inn. As I got a few meters up the hill, I turned around and saw that the man had reached the intersection I was on, and was turning his car around to continue following me. I knew that armed guards are stationed on that street, and so I took off running towards them. I was able to reach them before the man caught up with me. The guards came out of their shack and stood with me for a few minutes. I eventually walked away, hoping to find a taxi to drive me home. Because this occurred over the week of Eid al-Adha, there were no taxis on the streets and none of the shops were open. As I was walking, the man in the yellow car found me a second time. I was forced to run to get away from him again. I eventually made it to the Movenpick, where the staff called me a taxi. Unfortunately, the employees I spoke with at the Movenpick were slightly patronizing about my experience and treated me like I was overreacting about my ordeal.

Features