TWO IRAQIS KILLED AT PROTEST DEMANDING JUSTICE FOR SLAIN PRO-DEMOCRACY ACTIVISTS

Wed 26 May 2021:

Two protesters were shot and died in a hospital and 28 were injured on Tuesday after hundreds of Iraqis took to the streets in Baghdad to protest a rise in targeted killings of prominent activists and journalists.

Violence erupted near Tahrir Square in the early evening following a largely peaceful demonstration. Iraqi security forces fired tear gas and live rounds to disperse the crowds and demonstrators hurled stones at riot police, witnesses and Iraqi security officials said.

Mohammad Baker from the southern town of Diwaniya died in Al-Kindi hospital from a gunshot wound in the neck, a medical source said.

Another medical source later said another person had died, without giving more details.

Many waved Iraqi flags and raised portraits of Ehab Wazni, a prominent activist assassinated in Karbala, among three targeted killings this month alone. Protesters had given the government two weeks to hold his killers responsible.

“The government did not deliver, we had to march,” said Jaban.

The High Commission for Human Rights reported nearly 35 activists have been killed in Iraq since an anti-government protest movement swept Iraq in October 2019. There have been nearly 82 attempted killings since them.

In the last year alone, 15 Iraqis were killed and there were 30 attempted killings recorded by the commission, said spokesman Ali al-Bayati.

Earlier, demonstrators gathered in the square amid heavy security, among them protesters from southern provinces including Dhi Qar and Karbala.

Protesters expressed outrage that despite launching several investigations into the killings, Iraqi authorities have not named any perpetrators. They widely believe the killers to be linked to Iran-backed militia groups and that the government is powerless and unwilling to identify them.

A recent Human Rights Watch report raised concerns that without justice the killings could prevent Iraqis from participating in the election.

“If the authorities are not able to take urgent steps to stop these extrajudicial killings the palpable climate of fear they have created will severely limit the ability of Iraqis who have been calling for change to participate in the upcoming parliamentary elections,” wrote senior researcher Belkis Wille.

Heavy security deployments were seen in central Baghdad ahead of the Tuesday protest.

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