Iraqi activist shot in Baghdad after criticising militia on social media
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — An Iraqi activist was wounded after being shot by masked men in Baghdad on Wednesday, a day after criticising a militia group on social media.
Akram Adhab was wounded after being attacked by masked men on Wednesday night in the al-Talbiya neighbourhood in east Baghdad.
A friend present with Adhab at the time of the attack has told Rudaw he has “strong opinions” against political parties published to his social media accounts.
“A masked man in a white Sorento car shot at Adhab with a silenced gun,” said activist Omar Faruq. “Another car was parked nearby, and another masked man came out and also shot at Adhab.”
“We asked for help, but did not receive any, because it seems that the area is home to these armed forces,” he said, adding that they seemed “as if they owned the place.”
“No attack will ever stop us from revealing the truth and fighting corruption and control of armed militias in the country,” he added.
Adhab is in a stable condition, according to Faruq.
“Baghdad is a prison run by Rab’allah,” Adhab had posted on Facebook on Tuesday. “They practice their hobby of constantly abusing people.”
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.
Certain PMF factions are said to be behind the killing of hundreds of Iraqi protesters, including many activists and journalists, who took to the streets across central and southern Iraq from October 2019.
Nearly 560 protesters and security force members have been killed since October 2019, according to data provided by Hisham Dawoud, advisor to Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi.
Activists who now live in the Kurdistan Region have told Rudaw they fled Baghdad because of threats from militias.
"We fled because of the militias, they kill all the activists involved in last year’s October protests," said activist Qahtan Adnan.
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.
“We vow to hunt down the perpetrators to bring them to face justice.. we will not stop chasing the criminals, and we will use all of our efforts to return the control of weapons to the state…no power is above the power of the rule of law,” he said after Hashimi’s murder.
"Two people have been identified that are linked to the assassination of Hashimi, but they have fled the country," the PM’s spokesperson Ahmad Mulla Talal told state media on November 15.
Additional reporting by Mushtaq Ramadan