Family reels, seeks revenge after killing of young Iraqi protestor

21-year-old Mohammed Saadi lived in the working class Baghdad neighborhood of Sadr City. He recently got engaged, and was making plans for married life. 

Frustrated by his unemployment and the poverty he and is family lived in, Mohammed attended a Baghdad protest on October 1, where a crowd of Iraqis expressed similar grievances.

He was shot and killed by security forces at the protest.

His families are angry about the loss of their young relative and say they’ll seek revenge from the government if it doesn't address his death.

“A man was protesting peacefully and holding a flag, why should he be shot?” asks Mohammed’s uncle, Sheikh Abu Ali Saadi.

Though Iraqis have long been their discontent for rampant state corruption and inconsistent electricity and water supplies through social media and small-scale protests, unrest escalated when hundreds of protestors assembled in Baghdad’s Tahrir Square on October 1. They soon spread to other Iraqi provinces including Basra, where Iraq’s last large-scale protests began in the summer of 2018 and left 14 dead.

The government has been accused of violating international and constitutional laws in its response to protests.

Iraqi security forces have faced international criticism for their use of excessive force including gunfire and tear gas – though some countries have called for “restraint from all sides.”

“Tear gas, boiled water, and bullets have been used against the protestors. This has resulted in fatalities. We ask the Iraqi government to respect international law and not to violate the Constitution by preventing rights and freedoms,” said Ali Mirza, deputy head of Iraqi High Commission for Human Rights.

As the death toll for protests continues to climb, stories like Mohammed’s are likely to be replicated.