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Iraq
Members of the PMF protest the killing of Qasem Soleimani and PMF deputy Abu Mahdi al Muhandis in Baghdad on January 6, 2020. Photo: AFP
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — The Iraqi National Communications and Media Commission (MCMC) on Friday filed an official complaint against Facebook and Twitter over apparent restrictions placed on pages and accounts affiliated with the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF, or Hashd al Shaabi in Arabic).
A document from the MCMC, dated January 14, stated that "a large number of complaints submitted to the commission were regarding the issue of suspending pages and Twitter and Facebook accounts related to the PMF and its supporters.”
"The PMF is an official institution affiliated with the Iraqi state; therefore, it should be respected, and Twitter and Facebook should respect freedom of speech," it added. It was later shared by both state media and the PMF.
The PMF is an umbrella network of Shiite paramilitary groups, established in 2014 to fight the Islamic State (ISIS) following a fatwa from Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani. Some Iran-backed PMF factions have been accused of human rights abuses, and regular attacks on the US embassy in Baghdad.
The US Treasury has already imposed sanctions on leading PMF figures, including PMF chief-of-staff Abu Fadak al-Mohammedawi.
The PMF's official Twitter account congratulated Mohammedawi on Wednesday night for being added to "America's blacklist."
Other senior members of the PMF have also been sanctioned by the US.
Falih al-Fayyadh, who leads a government-appointed committee to bring the PMF under central government control, was sanctioned on January 8 for "connection to serious human rights abuse" during the Iraqi protests which began in October 2019.
The PMF’s deputy leader Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis was killed alongside Iranian general Qasem Soleimani in a US drone strike near Baghdad airport in January 2020. Tensions spiraled between the US and Iran as a result, and Iraqi bases hosting US troops came under repeated attack from PMF militias.
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