ERBIL, Kurdistan - A second activist in Iraq’s southern city of Basra has been assassinated by unknown assailants over the last week, as dangers for those involved in demonstrations across the country’s central and southern cities continue to escalate. Fitness trainer and prominent activist Reham Yacoub was reportedly shot dead in her car in central Basra Wednesday night, according to American-supported Iraqi news outlet Irfaa Sawtak. At least five activists have been targeted for assasination outside of protests within the week in the oil rich city. On Friday, Tahseen Oussama, another local activist, was killed in Basra's northern al-Junaina neighbourhood. Earlier in the night Rudaw English reporter Lawk Ghafuri, who regularly covers Iraq's protests, received messages from activists on the ground about possible assassinations in the city and the capital of Baghdad. Iraqi protesters expanded their movement in Basra on Sunday following the assassination of Oussama. Protesters started to march near the governorate building in Basra and close to the house of the Basra governor, Asaad al-Idani. Videos circulating on social media platforms show security forces using live ammunition against protesters in front of the governor’s house and the governorate building in Basra city on Sunday. They also show some protesters using Molotov cocktails against security forces. In response to the violence, the Iraqi government sacked two senior security officials in the city, including the Basra police chief Iraq’s Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi took to Twitter Wednesday night while on his trip to Washington DC shortly after reports of Yacoub’s assasination began coming out. “Colluding with the killers or submitting to their threats is unacceptable, and we will do whatever is necessary for the Ministry of Interior and Security agencies to undertake the task of protecting the security of society from the threats of outlaws,” the tweet reads. Iraq has seen frequent protests since October 2019, with demonstrators demanding basic services, jobs, and the fall of the corruption-rife political establishment that have been in place since the 2003 US invasion. When security forces and pro-Iran militias began attacking the protesters, killing hundreds, activists began demanding an end to foreign interference in Iraqi affairs and called for the overthrow of the political elite. Iraqi activists have been warning of an increasingly threatening environment for those who speak out against the country's current political order. Data provided to Rudaw English from the Iraqi High Commission for Human Rights (IHCHR) last month put the number of successful targeted assassinations of protesters and aligned activists between October 1, 2019 and March 17, 2020 at 22. Photos of Yacoub with a former US official have been circulating on social media originally popularized by Mehr news when the activist took a prominent role in 2018 protests. The report from the semi-official Iranian news agency described the activists as acting on the behalf of the US government to promote their influence in Iraq.
