ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — The United States Department of Treasury has sanctioned senior Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) leader Falih al-Fayyadh "for his connection to serious human rights abuse," the Treasury said in a statement on Friday.
Fayyadh had a central role in the suppression of Iraq's popular, anti-government protests that began in October 2019, the Treasury said.
"Fayyadh was part of a crisis cell comprised primarily of Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) militia leaders formed in late 2019 to suppress the Iraqi protests with the support of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force (IRGC-QF)," a statement from the Treasury read.
"Today, Iran-aligned elements of the PMF continue to wage an assassination campaign against political activists in Iraq who are calling for free and fair elections, respect for human rights, and clean government."
At least 600 protesters and members of the security forces were killed since the beginning of the protests, Amnesty International said in January 2020.
Fayyadh is the chairman of the Popular Mobilization Committee (PMC), a board created by the Iraqi government to bring the PMF under central government control.
Fayyadh was in the southern Iraqi city of Basra on Friday, at a memorial event marking one year since the US assassination of Quds Force commander Qasem Soleimani and PMF deputy leader Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis.
In reference to a non-binding resolution passed by Iraqi parliament a few days after the assassination of Muhandis and Soleimani, Fayyadh said "the exit of the American forces was an Iraqi decision the parliament voted for".
"This is the first response, and we will never give it up," he said.
The sanctions on Fayyadh are “a response to the decision by an Iraqi court to punish Trump”, Abbas al-Ardawi, a politics and security analyst affiliated with the PMF told Rudaw’s Rojan Abubakir – in reference to an arrest warrant issued on Thursday by a Baghdad court for US President Donald Trump, for ordering the assassination of Soleimani and Muhandis.
“Such a response at such a time is very dangerous, because it has targeted the head of Hashd al-Shaabi committee, which is a very sensitive position," Ardawi said.
Other senior members of the PMF, including Asaib Ahl al-Haq leader Qais al-Khazali, have been subject to similar US sanctions.
Updated at 11:50 pm
