Iraqi protesters shot down while protesting shootings
In short: If you protest in Iraq they will shoot you. If you are an activist you will be hunted down by militias, many of them linked to Iran, and killed.
Iran has scrambled to sponge up Iraq’s resources and move its economy to Iran, piece by piece making Baghdad dependent on Tehran. Iran treats Iraq like what the Russians call the “near abroad,” the way Russia once treated Ukraine. In short: Iran’s problems are outsourced to Iraq. With Iran under sanctions, Iran used its Arab neighbor as a dumping ground for drug trafficking and economic failure. It also sent militias linked to the IRGC Quds Force to take over Iraq’s economy and establish checkpoints in areas retaken from ISIS.
Meanwhile, Turkey has moved into the Kurdistan autonomous region, moving banks into Erbil and playing a key role in tourism and infrastructure projects. The Kurdistan region is economically successful, so much so that half of Iraq seems to want to go there. Areas once depopulated by Saddam’s genocide are now the envy of Iraq. An area where once it took half a day to go from Erbil to Dohuk, the latter of which is a pretty city on the edge of the mountains, now takes two hours with new highways.
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There have been 81 attempted assassinations of activists since anti-government protests began in October 2019, according to Ali al-Bayati of Iraq’s human rights commission, Rudaw reports. “At least 34 activists have been killed.”
The UN in Iraq is also concerned. “Only accountability will stop the pattern of deadly attacks targeting civic and political activists," the UN mission in Iraq says. "While the perpetrators may think they have silenced voices, they have only amplified them. Accountability is key for Iraq’s stability. The Iraqi people have a right to know.”
But concerns are how politicians and the UN signal that they will do nothing. This is because in Iraq, the militias – many linked to Iran – have the final say. Asaib Ahl al-Haq, Kataib Hezbollah, Harakat Hezollah, Badr and other groups are the ones with the armories, the guns and the ability to plan the targeting of protest leaders. They collect information. They torture people at secret prisons. They send warnings like a mafia. And when they choose, they emerge from the shadows and kill activists, commentators, academics: anyone who gets in their way.
Iran’s snake-like grip on the region, an octopus with dozens of deadly vipers for tentacles, hunts down these activists and anyone who opposes the Iranian regime’s attempt to strangle Iraq, Lebanon and other countries. “Who killed me” the protesters say, holding signs of the murdered, the disappeared. These include those activists who in recent years have gone “missing” when leaving protests.