Iraq’s Anti-Government Activist ‘Salah-al-Iraqi’ Assassinated By Gunmen

A prominent Iraqi activist has been killed in Baghdad, activists and local media say.

Salah al-Iraqi was reportedly shot dead by unknown individuals in the Baghdad al-Jadida area on Tuesday evening.

Who Was Mr Salah-al-Iaqi?

Mr Iraqi has been instrumental in the massive anti-corruption protests, high unemployment and alarming public services that erupted last year.

In his last Facebook post, he wrote: The innocent die while the cowards rule.”

More than 550 protesters were shot dead by the military and security forces accused of colluding with Iranian-backed forces between October and December 2019. Thousands of others were injured and hundreds arrested.

The protests came in March after the government took drastic measures to stop the spread of Covid-19, but thousands of people returned to the streets in recent months.

Human rights groups have also reported the forced disappearance and illegal killings of many activists, journalists, lawyers, and other members of the public since the protests began.

The meetings led to the resignation of the Prime Minister, Adel Abdul Mahdi, who was replaced in May by Mustafa al-Kadhimi.

Vile Allegations On Iraq

Mr Kadhimi, the former head of intelligence, vowed to investigate the killings and hold accountable those responsible.

But last week, six organizations including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International said the government had so far failed to do so.

This “continued to intensify decades of punishment that left brave people without basic protection”, they warned in a joint statement.

In August, a doctor and a women’s rights defender who led a women’s march during a protest were killed.

Riham Yaqoob was shot dead by two unidentified gunmen on a motorcycle as he passed through the southern city center.

Another Basra women’s rights activist, Lodya Remon Albarti, was shot and wounded two days earlier.

In July, four motorcyclists shot dead journalist and security expert Hisham al-Hashimi in front of his home in Baghdad.