Iraq’s judiciary calls for progress in protest cases as families of slain activists demand action

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — The head of the Iraqi Supreme Judicial Council reiterated the legal right to peaceful demonstrations and called on the courts and investigative bodies to follow up on the killing of activists in a meeting with protest representatives, the council said on Tuesday. 

"The requests and observations of the demonstrators' representatives were listened to, and the investigative bodies must resolve the cases of the killing of protesters and the attacks they were subjected to, and direct all federal appeals courts to follow up on those cases," Judge Faiq Zaidan said in a statement.

The meeting comes the day after the mother of activist Ihab al-Wazni, assassinated last month, gave Zaidan 12 days to reveal the identity of Wazni’s killers and put them on trial.

In a press conference on Monday, Samira al-Wazni demanded "disclosure of her son's killers in a public trial, to serve as an example to those who do not sanctify the blood of Iraqis.”

"I give the head of the Supreme Judicial Council, Mr. Faiq Zaidan, and the judge of the terrorism court 12 days to reveal the perpetrators and bring them to a public trial…. if not, may god, the country and the people forgive me for what I will do in the coming days,” she said from Karbala.

Karbala activist Reda Hajwel confirmed to Rudaw English that the meeting with the judicial council took place, but said that the delegation did not include anyone from Karbala.

"The issue of the activists’ killers has been discussed, especially the case of Ihab al-Wazni, and there will be periodic visits by the demonstrators to the Judicial Council to find out about the courts and arrest warrants to implement them," Hajwel said.

Unknown gunmen assassinated Wazni near his home in Karbala in May. Before his death, the activist called for large protests, prompting demonstrators to head en masse to Baghdad just weeks after he was killed, demanding the killers of activists be revealed.

Three weeks after his death, a prominent leader from the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF or Hashd al-Shaabi) Qassem Musleh was arrested on terrorism-related charges. Musleh has been accused of being linked to the killing of prominent activists in Karbala, including Wazni.

In a televised interview with al-Hurra last month, Wazni’s mother said that Musleh threatened to kill her son multiple times.

“Musleh once told my son, if there is only one day left in my life; I will use it to kill you,” she said.

“He kept threatening him for months by sending vehicles and motorcycles to follow Ihab to scare him.”

"There is a step that the martyr's mother will take in twelve days, which cannot be revealed now, and this falls within the pressure on the government to reveal the activists' killers," Hajwel told Rudaw English.

Since the start of the protest movement in October 2019, dozens of activists have been assassinated, and some have been kidnapped and tortured. The killers act with impunity as investigations have yielded little result.