ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Since the beginning of Iraq’s nationwide protests on October 1, at least 121 activists have been kidnapped or assassinated, Ali al-Bayati, a member of the Iraqi High Commission for Human Rights, said Wednesday.
Protesters and activists have previously described campaigns of surveillance, intimidation, and abduction by government forces and unidentified armed groups since the unrest began late last year.
According to Al-Bayati, at least 49 activists have been assassinated or survived assassination attempts in that period, while at least 72 have been kidnapped.
In late December, IHCHR reports handed to Rudaw showed a total of 68 activists had been kidnapped.
At that time, at least 56 activists were still missing.
Fahim al-Taie, an activist from Karbala, was killed outside his home in December by unknown gunmen riding a motorcycle.
Most of the incidents occurred in the capital Baghdad.
Several female activists have been kidnapped or assassinated since the beginning of the protests. Saba al-Mahdawi and Mari Mohammed were both kidnapped by armed groups in Baghdad. Although they were later released unharmed, they have been intimidated into silence.
Zahraa Ali al-Qaraloosi, 19, was kidnapped and killed in Baghdad on December 2 while heading home from Tahrir Square, the epicenter of the protests. Her body was found near her home hours later.
Young Iraqis have been protesting across southern and central provinces for the last four months demanding root and branch reform and the overturn of the post-2003 political order.
What first began as a call for jobs, public services, and an end to corruption soon evolved into a revolutionary movement when security forces and Iraq’s powerful pro-Iran militias launched a brutal crackdown.
More than 600 protesters and members of security forces have been killed and around 18,000 more wounded since the protests began.
Press intimidation
It’s not just activists who have faced threats and attack. Al-Bayati said Wednesday that at least 50 journalists covering the protests have witnessed or experienced violence at the hands of the Iraqi security forces or unidentified armed groups.
Two prominent Iraqi journalists, Ahmed Abdul Samad and his cameraman Safaa al-Ghali, were shot dead in the oil-rich southern city of Basra on January 10 while covering the protests for Dijlah TV. They were fired upon from a passing car.
The Iraqi government has also restricted press freedoms. On November 21, Iraq’s Communications and Media Commission suspended the licenses of nine media outlets for their coverage of the protests.
The government has also has implemented frequent internet blackouts in order to cut communications between protesters and foreign media outlets.
In early October, masked gunmen attacked the offices of Kurdish media agency NRT in Baghdad, while news channel Al-Hadath released CCTV footage of its Baghdad office being ransacked by gunmen.
Rudaw also received a warning regarding its coverage of the protests.
Factions of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), known in Arabic as Hashd al-Shaabi, are widely thought to be behind the kidnappings and targeted assassinations, despite government efforts to bring the paramilitias under Iraq’s official security apparatus.
In November 2019, human rights monitor Amnesty International reported PMF involvement in at least one abduction – that of a lawyer in the south of the country.
Those responsible for kidnapping and killing activists and journalists have not been identified by the Iraqi government.
