Iraq
Hundreds of Iraqi protesters demanded justice for murdered activists in a demonstration in Baghdad on May 25, 2021. File photo: Bilind T. Abdullah/Rudaw
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ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The United States on Tuesday offered a $5 million reward for information leading to the arrest or conviction of the abductors of a dual US-Iraqi national in Baghdad during 2019 protests. Ihsan Ashour said he was grabbed off the street by armed men and taken across the border to Iran for interrogation.
“Rewards for Justice is offering a reward of up to $5 million for information leading to those responsible for the December 13, 2019 abduction of US citizen Ihsan Ashour in Baghdad,” read the announcement from the US Department of State.
In a filmed statement, Ashour said he attended anti-government demonstrations in Baghdad’s Tahrir Square “to make a difference in the country, but we were met with killing, terrorism, kidnapping, torture by the Iranian militias.”
Ashour said he was abducted by 10 to 12 armed, masked men who took him to an unknown location where they beat and tortured him, and accused him of being a spy. “If I am a spy, then what does that make you?” he asked. “You snatched me from Tahrir Square, threw me into the trunk, and took me to Iran.”
He was released in May 2020 and is now in the United States.
Thousands of Iraqis joined anti-government protests in central and southern Iraq in late 2019, calling for an end to corruption and unemployment, and the provision of basic services. They were met with violence. At least 487 protesters were killed and 123 protesters and human rights activists were abducted or detained, according to figures from the United Nations.
“At least 32 individuals were abducted in circumstances indicating that the perpetrators may be armed actors commonly referred to as ‘militia’,” the UN stated in a report last year. “The information contained in the accounts of abduction, interrogation and torture and the similarities across the accounts suggest the involvement of armed actors with substantial levels of organization, influence and access to resources.”
Iranian-backed militias within Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF, Hashd al-Shaabi in Arabic) network are widely blamed for violence against demonstrators and targeted assassinations and abductions of activists.
These crimes have largely gone unpunished, though this week verdicts were handed down in two cases - the killing of a protester and two journalists. The persons convicted and sentenced to death have not been identified.
Earlier this year, a PMF commander Qassem Musleh was accused in the assassination of activist Ihab al-Wazni, but was released because of lack of evidence.
“Rewards for Justice is offering a reward of up to $5 million for information leading to those responsible for the December 13, 2019 abduction of US citizen Ihsan Ashour in Baghdad,” read the announcement from the US Department of State.
In a filmed statement, Ashour said he attended anti-government demonstrations in Baghdad’s Tahrir Square “to make a difference in the country, but we were met with killing, terrorism, kidnapping, torture by the Iranian militias.”
Ashour said he was abducted by 10 to 12 armed, masked men who took him to an unknown location where they beat and tortured him, and accused him of being a spy. “If I am a spy, then what does that make you?” he asked. “You snatched me from Tahrir Square, threw me into the trunk, and took me to Iran.”
He was released in May 2020 and is now in the United States.
Thousands of Iraqis joined anti-government protests in central and southern Iraq in late 2019, calling for an end to corruption and unemployment, and the provision of basic services. They were met with violence. At least 487 protesters were killed and 123 protesters and human rights activists were abducted or detained, according to figures from the United Nations.
“At least 32 individuals were abducted in circumstances indicating that the perpetrators may be armed actors commonly referred to as ‘militia’,” the UN stated in a report last year. “The information contained in the accounts of abduction, interrogation and torture and the similarities across the accounts suggest the involvement of armed actors with substantial levels of organization, influence and access to resources.”
Iranian-backed militias within Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF, Hashd al-Shaabi in Arabic) network are widely blamed for violence against demonstrators and targeted assassinations and abductions of activists.
These crimes have largely gone unpunished, though this week verdicts were handed down in two cases - the killing of a protester and two journalists. The persons convicted and sentenced to death have not been identified.
Earlier this year, a PMF commander Qassem Musleh was accused in the assassination of activist Ihab al-Wazni, but was released because of lack of evidence.
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