Iraq’s top court says issued arrest warrants for the killers of Hisham al-Hashimi
Some legal cases involving the killings of protesters have been resolved, the head of Iraq's Supreme Judicial Council also claimed.
ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The head of Iraq's Supreme Judicial Council, Faeq Zeidan, said on Thursday that the judiciary had issued arrest warrants for suspected killers of security expert Hisham al-Hashimi.
The top judicial official also said that the legal cases of some protester killings, carried out by members of the security forces and militia groups, had been resolved, an issue he described as "thorny and complex."
Zeidan did not reveal any further details.
The statement comes only days after the one-year anniversary of Hashimi's assassination outside his Baghdad home, an assault widely blamed on Iran-aligned militias the analyst had become increasingly critical of.
Related Article: Hisham al-Hashimi: No one held accountable a year after assassination
Since protests began in October of 2019, violence primarily led by security forces and paramilitaries aligned with Iran and operating under the Hashd al-Shaabi has led to over 600 deaths among demonstrators, according to the Iraqi High Commission for Human Rights (IHCHR).
Suspected militia operatives have also allegedly been involved in targeted assassinations of dozens of activists.
Despite repeated promises of upholding the rule of law, little seems to have been done to bring the perpetrators of the violence to justice.
In a report released late May, the UN mission in Iraq (UNAMI) documented how a lack of government transparency and ongoing impunity enjoyed by armed militias in Iraq believed to be behind the killings of protesters have fueled the ongoing assassinations and abductions.
Related Article: UN Iraq mission documents lack of accountability for protesters’ killings
