US government, Christian politician criticize Iran-backed militia’s curfew for Ashura holiday

Rudaw
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — A Christian politician in the Kurdistan Region and the US government are criticizing a curfew put in place by Iran-backed militias in the largely Christian Nineveh Plains for the Ashura holiday.

The major event, in which Shiite Muslims commemorate the killing of the prophet of Islam Muhammad’s grandson Imam Hussein in the seventh century, includes large processions where the faithful hit themselves to mourn Hussein’s tragic death. It is being celebrated on Tuesday this year. 

To “secure the Ashura procession,” the Iran-backed, largely Shiite Muslim militias the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), also known as Hashd al-Shaabi, announced a curfew from Monday at 2:00 pm until Tuesday 5:00 pm in the Nineveh Plains and Tel Afar on its official Facebook page. The Nineveh Plains is a largely Assyrian Christian area north of Mosul. 

The PMF was not alone in its concerns about the large number of participants, as the Iraqi government also ordered more transportation to be available throughout the country for the occasion. 

One Christian politician in the ruling Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) in the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) slammed the move, saying it was part of “demographic change” targeting local Christians and blamed former US envoy to the international anti-Islamic State (ISIS) coalition Brett McGurk for the situation.

The PMF controls large swaths of the Nineveh province after participating in the Iraqi-led offensive to retake it from ISIS. This year, there have been tensions between members of the Shabak religious minority and Christians in the Nineveh Plains over the PMF’s presence, with many Christians demanding the sectarian militia leave.

Iraqi Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi said in August that the PMF will have to leave the Nineveh Plains, which some locals, including from the Shabak community, have protested. 

In July, the prime minister also ordered all PMF units to fully integrate into the Iraqi military. Abdul-Mahdi is under pressure both from domestic critics of the PMF and the US, which opposes the Iran-backed group’s presence in Iraq. On the other hand, Iran is a major economic partner for Iraq. 

Some US government entities likewise criticized the PMF-imposed curfew on social media. One official from the US Agency for International Development (USAID), which supports the rebuild post-ISIS in the Nineveh Plains, said the curfew is a “crackdown” on religious minorities.

The US Commission on International Religious Freedom, a US government agency, also criticized the move, referring to the 30th brigade of the PMF present in the Nineveh Plains.

The PMF was formed in 2014 following a religious decree by Iraq’s highest Shiite Muslim authority the Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani to fight ISIS. The group proved to be a valuable part of the Iraqi security forces, assisting in numerous victories against ISIS, including in and around Mosul in the Nineveh province.