ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iraqi judicial authorities have issued a decree to release a former top security official who was sentenced to 20 years in prison for his involvement in the killing of dozens of Tishreen protesters in 2019, citing “insufficient” evidence.
In a document seen by Rudaw English on Wednesday, Faiq Zidan, president of Iraq's Supreme Judicial Council and the Federal Cassation Court, has directed an “immediate intervention and closure of investigation” into the case of Omar Nazar, a former lieutenant colonel in Iraq's Emergency Response Division (ERD).
Nazar was arrested in February 2022 after written confessions from his fellow officers surfaced, revealing that he had ordered police and security forces to fire live ammunition at protestors who were blocking a thoroughfare of al-Nasr and al-Zaytoon bridges in Iraq’s Nasiriyah city in November 2019.
The ERD, a special force under the Iraqi interior ministry, had a leading role to retake Mosul against the Islamic State (ISIS). The US government blacklisted the unit in March 2015, citing “credible information” of gross human rights violations.
In June 2023, Dhi Qar’s criminal court sentenced Nazar to perpetual imprisonment (20 years in Iraqi law) for the murder of Mustafa Ahmad, a 19-year-old protester and others in “his group,” as well as wounding several other protesters.
The document from the judiciary stated: “The obtained evidence in the case against suspect Omar Nazar Fakhraldin is doubtful and doubt is interpreted in favor of the suspect, and therefore the rulings of the court are inaccurate and against the law.”
It added that all previous rulings against Nazar were therefore overturned, all charges against him dropped, and he was to be released due to “insufficient” evidence.
Iraq’s youth led thousands towards nationwide demonstrations on October 1, 2019, - later to be called the Tishreen movement - protesting the country’s poor economic conditions, unemployment, foreign interference, and overall corruption.
The Tishreen protesters were met with live bullets, tear gas, battery, and other forms of brutality from Iraqi security actors trying to control the situation and disperse the demonstrations. Over 500 people were killed, and more than 20,000 others were wounded during the protests.
At least 30 protestors were killed and over 200 were injured in one night in Nasiriyah, marking the al-Zaytoon massacre.