Prominent activist assassinated in Baghdad

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Prominent Iraqi civil activist Salah al-Iraqi has died after being shot by masked men on Tuesday night near the Iraqi capital’s al-Jadida district, according to AFP sources.

Al-Iraqi was well known as an activist who had a leading role in Iraq’s mass anti-government protests, which started in October of last year in Baghdad and soon spread to the Shiite majority south. Like many of his fellow activists, he utilized social media to air his grievances with the Iraqi government.

The activist passed away upon his arrival to Sheikh Zayed hospital, according to a medic, a security source, and a network of activists speaking to the news agency.

Video footage of the young activist’s dead body soon spread across social media and messaging applications.

“He came to me multiple times saying he does not have money to pay his rent,” said a friend of Iraqi as he mourned over the dead activist’s body on Tuesday night, according to a video that went viral.

Prior to his death on Tuesday, Iraqi urged the Iraqi people to not sit down and watch injustice. “The free die, while the cowards rule,” he said in a Facebook post. 

Social media videos show Iraqi’s coffin being carried by a crowd of mourning and chanting protesters.

Iraqi is not the first activist involved in the protests to be assassinated.

Nearly 560 protesters and security force members have been killed since October 2019, according to data provided in July by Hisham Dawoud, advisor to Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi.

Iraqi security analyst and Rudaw columnist Husham al-Hashimi was assassinated in July by unknown armed groups in Baghdad, with many accusing Iran-backed militias of being behind his death. Despite Kadhimi’s promise to hunt down the killers, no one has been arrested over his death. 

Two high-profile activists in Basra were brazenly killed in the span of a single week in August. 

Activist Akram Adhab was shot by masked men on the night of November 25 in the al-Talbiya neighbourhood of eastern Baghdad, a day after criticizing Rab’Allah on social media.

Rab’allah are a newly-formed armed group linked to the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF, or Hashd al Shaabi) who were responsible for the attack on the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) Baghdad office back in October.