IRAQI MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR MURDER OF TWO JOURNALISTS

Mon 01 November 2021:

Iraq’s top court sentenced a man to death by hanging on Monday for the murder of two journalists who were covering anti-government protests in Basra last year.

In January 2020, Ahmad Abdessamad, a 37-year-old Al-Dijla television correspondent, and his cameraman Safaa Ghali, 26, were travelling in their hometown of Basra when another vehicle drew up behind them, and gunmen started fire, spraying bullets all over the car.

The condemned man identified only by the initials “H.K.”, was arrested in early 2021 with four other members of a “network of 16 people responsible for assassinations”, a security official said at the time.

It did not provide further details about any group he belonged to.

Iraqi President Barham Saleh must still sign the decree authorizing his execution, and he has 30 days to appeal.

Demonstrations occurred in Baghdad and across Iraq’s Shiite-majority south in October 2019, protesting government corruption and a lack of jobs.

Iran-backed parties with links to militia groups accused of killing some of the nearly 600 people who died in the protests.

Since October 2019, dozens of activists have been killed or kidnapped in attacks carried out by individuals on motorcycles, sometimes in the middle of night.

(with Agency) | Photo: Ahmad Abdessamad, a 37-year-old correspondent for local television station Al-Dijla, and his cameraman Safaa Ghali, 26.

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