Iraqi state ‘appears to be complicit’ in protester killings: HRW

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Iraq’s government “appears to be complicit” in the massacre of protesters both in Baghdad and nationwide, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Monday, urging members of the international coalition against ISIS to suspend military assistance to Iraq in response.

On December 6, armed men fired at protesters in Khilani Square and the nearby Senak Garage. At least 17 protesters were killed and dozens more injured, despite Iraqi security forces being stationed in the vicinity of protest sites.

“There’s very strong evidence the Iraqi authorities outsourced their dirty work against protesters, leaving just as the killings commenced and returning to assist with arrests,” Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch said of the killings.

The massacre at Khilani Square was just the latest in a series of deadly attacks on protesters. At least 25 protesters were killed in the southern Iraqi province of Dhi Qar over the course of two days in late November.

Iraqis have been protesting corruption, nepotism, poor provision of public services, and the country’s current system of government since October 1. Protesters have been met with deadly violence, including the fire of bullets and military-grade tear gas canisters. Citing Iraq's Ministry of Health, HRW has put the death toll at 511 people.

Iraqi authorities have repeatedly rejected claims that they are behind violence against protesters. In mid-November, Iraqi defense minister Najah al-Shammari blamed attacks on protesters on an unspecified “third party.” Judicial authorities have on numerous occasions vowed to investigate the killing of protesters.

Human Rights Watch interviewed five witnesses to the Khilani Square massacre. Among their claims was that Iraqi security forces and federal police manning two checkpoints in the Khilani Square left as gunmen arrived into the scene.

The human rights watchdog said it had also reviewed 11 videos from the night of the massacre, which “appeared to substantiate” the witness accounts. At least 29 people were killed and another 137 injured, it learned from “a reliable source from the Baghdad medical community”. Some protesters detained that night remained missing.

“The Iraqi government… should urgently identify and make public the groups and security forces that engaged in or coordinated these killings and hold perpetrators to account. It should compensate victims of all unlawful killings,” Monday’s statement said.

“If they stood by and allowed these armed men to attack protesters or carried out the murders themselves, the Iraqi government forces will be responsible,” Whitson added.

The call to identify those responsible for the killing of protesters has also been made by Hemin Bajalan, member of Iraqi Independent High Commission for Human Rights.

In comments made to the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP)’s official website, Bajalan said the commission knows which group is behind the killing of protesters. However, he said it is the job of the federal government to hold them to account.

“It is not our job to give warning, nor is it our job to uncover the name of the individuals and parties because the abusers are not from the government, but outside of it,” Bajalan said.

HRW urged members of the International anti-ISIS Coalition, who are in Iraq to train, advise, and assist Iraqi forces in the counter-ISIS campaign, to end their campaign until Iraqi authorities take effective steps to stop the killings and abusers held to account.

“The US, UK, and Iran can’t have it both ways, calling on the Iraqi government to respect the rights of protesters while supporting the Iraqi forces killing protesters or standing by,” Whitson asserted.

“With killings of protesters continuing day after day, they should end this support,” added Whitson.

Iraq’s protests remain widespread and fervent, despite the resignation of Abdul-Mahdi.

A December 16 deadline for the selection of a new prime minister who would form a new cabinet has now been missed. Protesters, as well as the Sayirun parliamentary bloc, have rejected the appointment of any candidate coming from the political establishment.

Iraqi state ‘appears to be complicit’ in protester killings: HRW

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