Iraq PM vows “transparent investigation” into killings as fresh protests demand accountability
ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – When Iraqis poured into the streets of Baghdad on Tuesday, demanding accountability for the murder of activists and protesters in previous demonstrations, they again were met with live bullets that killed at least two people and wounded dozens.
Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi, whose resignation is among the demonstrators’ demands, said Wednesday that he had launched a "transparent" investigation into the killings of two young men in Baghdad late Tuesday. Nearly 30 other people were injured in clashes with the mass of riot police deployed to the capital.
The new protests, unlike the October waves, are focused on the end of impunity for the murders, with shouts of the new slogan “Who killed me?”
In addition to young people, elderly men holding portraits of their missing sons were also attending the protests, angry at the government’s inability to find the killers.
It is not the first time that Kadhimi’s government has vowed to find the perpetrators of the killings and abductions of protestors.
The demonstrations began in October 2019, with Iraqis demanding basic services, employment, and the removal of foreign hegemony in the country. Since then, nearly 70 activists and protestors have been abducted and killed for their participation in the mass demonstrations.
The finger of blame has been pointed on the Iran-linked Shia militias in the country, according to protestors, civil activists, and diplomats.
In the latest series of assassinations targeting activists, prominent civil society figure Ihab al-Wazni, was gunned down in an ambush by two unknown gunmen in early May in front of his home in the southern province of Karbala.
The Iraqi government has also not yet publicly identified anyone responsible for the killing of security and terrorism expert Hisham al-Hashimi. Baghdad does not reveal the details of the investigations it claims to carry out into these assassinations.
Editing by Joanne Stocker-Kelly