UNAMI “voices its grave concern at the shooting to death of a civil society activist, Ms. Suad al-Ali, in Basra on 25 September 2018,” read a statement from the UN late on Wednesday.
It urged Basra authorities “thoroughly to investigate the circumstances surrounding the killing to determine its motives and to bring the perpetrator(s) to justice.”
Ali was a civil activist heading up the al-Weed International Organization in Basra, a relative, Haidar al-Safi, told the Associated Press.
“She was supporting the protest and she was assassinated yesterday around 4:05 – 4:10pm,” he added.
Ali, 46, is a mother of four children.
The family is cooperating with the police and does not know who is behind the killing, said the relative.
Video of the killing showed a masked gunman shooting Ali outside a supermarket in Basra on Tuesday. She died on the spot. Her husband was injured and treated in hospital.
She was involved in organizing protests over lack of services like electricity and clean water, high unemployment, and government corruption.
The demonstrations rocked the southern Iraqi city over the summer. Several people were killed this month and protesters set party offices and the Iranian consulate on fire.
Authorities have reportedly arrested dozens of activists in an effort to quell the protests.
