The Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR)’s 24th periodic report on human rights violations in Iraq documents a range of demonstrations and counter-demonstrations taking place in the country, in addition to the various violations that have affected citizens, including human rights activists, journalists and media professionals, Iraqi children, as well as some of the peaceful demonstrators themselves.
Demonstrations and counter-demonstrations
On 02 August 2022, the Central Committee for Demonstrations held a meeting in Al-Dabouni sub-district of Al-Aziziyah district, in Wasit Governorate, in the presence of a number of representatives from the central and southern governorates and a large number of protesters who participated in the broad popular movement that began on 01 October 2019. The meeting issued a statement in which it said, “We will come out with a large demonstration separate from the rest of the protesters on 05 August 2022. We call for, through our statement, all the sons and daughters of Iraq to participate and come down strongly under the hashtag: #Friday_To_Overturn_The_ Equation.”
In response to this call, on 05 August 2022, hundreds of demonstrators gathered for several hours in Nisour Square, located in western Baghdad close to the Green Zone, which houses the headquarters of the three authorities and most diplomatic missions (main photos above). The demonstrators demanded a complete change of the current political system. A number of other demonstrators participated in this national gathering, including the demonstrators in Al-Haboubi Square in the city of Nasiriyah, the capital of Dhi Qar Governorate.
On 27 July 2022, thousands of supporters of the Sadrist movement stormed the Iraqi parliament building and did not vacate it until the evening after the leader of the Sadrist movement, Muqtada Al-Sadr, asked them to do so.
On 30 July 2022, the Sadrist movement’s supporters stormed the Iraqi parliament building again, and held a sit-in inside it, after clashes with security forces stationed in the Green Zone left approximately 125 wounded who received treatment in various hospitals. The Iraqi parliament suspended its sessions after that, after the protesters turned their siege into a permanent sit-in.
These protests came after the coordination framework, which obtained most of the resigned seats from the Sadrist movement’s representatives, named former minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani as prime minister.
The Sadrist movement emerged as the most prominent winning force after the last parliamentary elections that were held on 10 October 2021, as it won 73 seats in the new parliament out of a total of 329 seats. Despite this, it was unable to form a new government, so its winning deputies submitted their collective resignation.
On 01 August 2022, thousands of supporters of the coordination framework gathered in front of the Green Zone to protest against the storming of the Iraqi parliament by supporters of the Sadrist movement.
On 02 August 2022, the Sadrist movement asked its supporters to vacate the Iraqi parliament building and continue the sit-in in its vicinity, where they are currently gathering.
On 03 August 2022, the leader of the Sadrist movement, Muqtada Al-Sadr, gave a speech demanding that the Iraqi parliament be dissolved and early elections be held, while at the same time he called on his supporters among the protesters to continue their sit-in.
Previously, the security forces in the city of Samawah, the capital of Al-Muthanna Governorate, suppressed a peaceful march of graduates and unemployed people on 23 July 2022 (photo on the left).
On 27 July 2022, a number of protesters closed the Iron Bridge (the Commission Bridge) and the Qishla intersection in the city of Samawah in solidarity with their fellow graduates and unemployed people who had been repressed, and demanded the dismissal of Governor Ahmed Manfi (photo in the middle).
On 06 August 2022, the security forces used force to disperse a demonstration by residents of Al-Kahla District, Maysan Governorate, in which local residents demanded water, electricity and job opportunities (photo on the right). Reliable local sources confirmed that the local authorities shut down the internet on the same day in an attempt to prevent coordination between protesters to continue their protests.
Targeting journalists who covered the storming of the Iraqi parliament
Journalists and media staff of television channels faced frequent harassment and attacks and were often prevented from covering these events and protests.
On 01 August 2022, a video clip circulating on social networks showed that a protester supporting the coordination framework prevented the official Al-Iraqiya TV team, consisting of journalists Ahmed Aram and Ahmed Majed, from covering “the channel’s association with power,” according to this protester.
On 30 July 2022, the crew of Al-Mayadeen satellite channel, consisting of journalists Abdullah Badran, Abdullah Saad and Zaid Khaled Jumaa, sustained various bruises and were transferred to the hospital for treatment, after they were targeted by the security forces with several sound bombs while covering the protests in the Green Zone.
On 29 July 2022, demonstrators affiliated with the Sadrist movement closed the office of Al-Forat satellite channel in Basra, owned by Ammar Al-Hakim, the leader of the Al-Hikma movement, in response to a speech he had delivered on the same day in which he criticised the Sadrist movement’s demonstrations.
On 30 July 2022, the presenter of the “Studio 9” programme at Al-Baghdadiya channel, Ali Al-Dhabhawi, was subjected to “an assault in the public street in front of his children in the holy city of Najaf by the personal secretary of Adnan Al-Zorfi and an officer in the security of the Popular Mobilisation,” as stated by the channel on its website.
Al-Dhabhawi stated that, “Ahmed Mahmoud Ibrahim, the personal secretary of the former governor of Najaf, Adnan Al-Zarfi, accompanied by an officer in the security of the Popular Mobilisation called Alaa Al-Moussawi, beat me using their personal weapons,” stressing that the attack took place in front of the eyes of his children.
GCHR has previously documented that Al-Dhabhawi was constantly targeted, the latest of which was his arrest on 24 May 2022 and his release hours later, due to his programs criticising corruption and the influence of militias in Iraq.
On 23 July 2022, Iraqi programme presenter Dr. Qusay Shafiq, who works for the Watan (WTV) satellite channel, announced on his Facebook page that his house in Baghdad had been attacked by gunmen, whom he said he “knows”.
Shafiq said in the video he posted on his same page that showed the effects of the destruction on his house that, “The attack was with hand grenades and machine guns, and my mother was wounded in the attack.” He accused who he called “the corrupt and the thieves” of carrying out the attack.
On 15 March 2022, he was arrested on the basis of his views on the financial policies of the government and his sharp criticism of it, and was detained in the Adhamiya police station. On 21 April 2022, he was released, and the five cases brought against him by various Iraqi officials were closed, according to information previously documented by GCHR.
Shafiq uses his Facebook page to express his views and comment on the daily affairs of citizens’ concern. On this page, he spoke frequently in video recordings about the continuous targeting he suffered because of his quest to protect public money and his fight against corruption.
Turkish artillery bombardment of an Iraqi tourist resort
On 20 July 2022, fierce artillery shelling targeted a tourist resort in the village of Barkh, located in Zakho district, Dohuk Governorate, killing nine citizens, including women and children. The Turkish army continues its operations inside Iraqi territory using various types of weapons, including warplanes or drones, artillery, as well as regular ground forces to hunt down the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which is stationed in the mountainous border areas between the two countries and in the Sinjar district of Nineveh Governorate, northwest of the city of Mosul, the governorate’s capital.
Immediately after the artillery bombardment, Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi issued a condemnatory statement saying that “Turkish forces have once again committed a clear and flagrant violation of Iraqi sovereignty and the lives and security of Iraqi citizens by targeting a tourist resort in Dohuk Governorate.”
It later emerged, according to activists from the Kurdistan region of Iraq who spoke to GCHR, that “the bombing was carried out by Turkish artillery under the pretext of targeting the headquarters of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).”
Among the dead were families who wanted to enjoy a tourist trip in the Kurdistan region of Iraq, before their trip turned into a devastating tragedy. The first moments are documented in this video in which the screams of women and children are heard as they face the rockets hitting their location.
Doaa Makki, a resident of Karbala Governorate, lost her husband only three days after their wedding when the attack occurred. In this video, she spoke from inside the hospital where she was taken due to her injury, just seven days after her marriage, about the bombing she was subjected to with her husband and the rest of the tourists, and she says, “When the shells fell, my husband fell and his hands were amputated and I tried to save him not to fall into the water and drown, but he died. I can’t forget those moments. May God have mercy on my husband.”
This incident fueled the anger of Iraqi citizens, including human rights activists, who defended the victims and demanded that the Turkish government be held accountable for the attack and its consequences.
Children’s Rights Violations
Children in Iraq are subjected to numerous violations, including death and human trafficking. One of the results of the Turkish bombing mentioned above was the killing of three children: Zahraa Khairy Mohammed (one year old), Sarah Qais Ali (12 years old), and Zahra Qais Ali (16 years old).
On 25 June 2022, the Federal Intelligence and Investigation Agency in the Iraqi Ministry of Interior announced that it had thwarted an attempt to sell a baby in Najaf Governorate, and arrested antiquities smugglers in Baghdad and Karbala.
In a press statement, it stated, “Its detachments were able to arrest a gang accused of human trafficking led by a woman near Najaf airport, while they were trying to sell a two-month-old child for a sum of 15 million Iraqi dinars – about 10 thousand US dollars.”
This is not the first time that the sale of a child has been stopped. In recent years, this phenomenon has been exacerbated in Iraq due to poverty and the economic and security crises.
On 20 June 2022, a clan conflict erupted east of the capital, Baghdad, in which light and medium weapons were used, and two children were seriously injured.
On 15 June 2022, the security forces were able to arrest a woman accused of attempting to sell a child for a sum of money in the Zaafaraniya area, southeast of Baghdad. The investigative papers were presented to the investigative judge, and he decided to arrest them in accordance with the provisions of Article (6) of the Anti-Human Trafficking Law.
Murder of a civil society activist
Human rights defenders are constantly exposed to attacks and assassinations, without any deterrent to prevent them from being targeted, mostly by members of armed groups, in addition to the absence of the protection that the government must provide for them to carry out their peaceful and legitimate work in defense of civil and human rights of citizens.
On 30 June 2022, civil society activist Jamil Suleiman Ailo Al-Zarro (40 years old) was killed by unidentified gunmen in Sinjar district. Colleagues of Suleiman said during their communication with GCHR that, “Suleiman was subjected to previous threats by armed men of the necessity of abandoning his activities and defending civilians and demanding them to remove the influence of armed groups from the judiciary.” They added, “As he refused to comply with their threats, they killed him. He felt very endangered by these threats, but he insisted not to submit to them.”
His body was found in the afternoon of the same day in an unfinished house located in Dhola complex, which is 17 kilometers from his house in Sinuni sub-district of Sinjar district.
According to his Facebook page, he was a member of Gilan Organisation, a civil society organisation established in 2019, specialised in care and rehabilitation. He was also an official of the Foreign Relations Committee of the Yazidi House Foundation, a religious and social institution that provides assistance to the needy and war victims, in addition to being a member of the independent Sinjar Youth Gathering, and he and his comrades called for the removal of all armed forces from the Sinjar district.
On 16 July 2022, lawyer Haider Maytham Hussain Al-Janabi was killed in his home in the Mazraa area, opposite the village of Al-Ghadir, north of the city of Najaf, by unidentified gunmen. The next day, the Federal Intelligence and Investigation Agency in the Ministry of the Interior arrested the perpetrators of this murder.
In a press release, it stated, “The Federal Intelligence and Investigation Agency in the Ministry of Interior, within less than 24 hours, revealed the details of the murder of the slain lawyer (Haidar Maytham Hussein Al-Janabi) in Najaf Governorate and arrested the perpetrators.”
Arrests of two civil society activists
The poor behaviour of the Iraqi authorities did not end with the arrest of activists, human rights defenders, and even demonstrators who demanded jobs or job opportunities, as it seems if these behaviours had become an approach to prevent the expansion of protests and prevent people from expressing their views.
On 11 June 2022, the security forces in the city of Basra arrested both civil society activist Ammar Al-Zaidi, representative of contracts amounting to 30,000, and Wissam Al-Tamimi, representative of contracts for the Basra Health Directorate, because they had peacefully demonstrated to demand that the owners of these contracts be fixed on permanent owners. They were released on 13 June 2022, after the great solidarity campaign of fellow protesters.
Dae’sh crimes
Dae’sh still poses a threat to the lives of Iraqis, although its terrorist activities have declined significantly, but it carries out individual operations from time to time in which it kidnaps and kills innocent civilians, demonstrating a clear failure by the Iraqi authorities to make unremitting efforts to end the existence of this terrorist organisation and protect citizens from him.
On 01 July 2022, elements of the Dae’sh terrorist group killed a young shepherd, Mamdouh Hammad Al-Jaghifi, who is from the Tal Abta area of Hatra District, one of the remote desert areas in the south of Nineveh Governorate. Local sources stated that the reason for his killing was, “his cooperation with the Iraqi security forces in the fight against terrorism.”
On 10 June 2022, the United Nations Investigative Team to Promote Accountability for Crimes Committed by Dae’sh (UNITAD), jointly hosted by the Permanent Mission of the Republic of Iraq to the United Nations in New York, and the Permanent Mission of Finland to the United Nations in New York organised a special event entitled “Towards the prosecution of Dae’sh members for their international crimes, the pattern of mass killing: Dae’sh crimes against the Tikrit Air Academy personnel.” These mass killings in Iraq are known as the “Spyker Massacre”.
In his opening remarks, Christian Ritscher, Special Adviser and Head of the Investigation Team of UNITAD, said, “This event is being held in conjunction with the eighth anniversary of this massacre, which is one of the most heinous crimes committed by Dae’sh against defenseless military students in the Iraqi Air Force, the majority of whom are of Shiite origin.” He added, “The UNITAD investigation team has completed a case summary of this massacre with detailed evidence that can be used to support the trials of Dae’sh members, including those allegedly most responsible for these crimes.”
Recommendations
GCHR urges:
- The new Iraqi Council of Representatives to legislate the Law on the Protection of Journalists and the Law on the Protection of the Child;
- All Iraqi politicians to stop intimidating civil society activists and journalists with lawsuits;
- The authorities concerned with investigating the file of the killing of protesters and civil society activists to announce its results and to prosecute the perpetrators;
- The Iraqi government to provide the necessary protection for human rights defenders, journalists and media professionals who are subjected to continuous violations and attacks by various parties, including armed groups; and
- The Turkish government to stop all its attacks on Iraqi cities and villages.
