Anger is brewing in Iraq, where demonstrators burned tires and prefabs on Sunday May 9 in front of the Iranian consulate in Kerbala, a holy Shiite city in the south, in reaction to the assassination of Ehab al-Ouazni, figure of the popular protest movement that appeared in October 2019.

Very active and very popular, the influential coordinator of anti-power demonstrations in Kerbala, committed for decades against corruption and the carelessness of the political class, died instantly, on the night from Saturday to Sunday, after having was fatally shot by shooters who came to shoot him in front of his home.

Less than 24 hours after his assassination, when the shock wave has not subsided with protests reported in Kerbala, but also in Nassiriya and Diwaniya, other towns in the south, a journalist, Ahmed Hassan, was caught. for target early, Monday, in the same region.

After having undergone several brain and skull operations, he "will remain in intensive care for two more weeks," said the specialized hospital which took care of him in Baghdad.

Thirty-four activists killed since "October revolution"

They are the last victims of the vast campaign of assassinations, kidnappings and threats targeting dissonant voices and actors of the protest movement for nearly two years.

A campaign that activists blame on Iran, the powerful Shiite neighbor, whose allies are very influential on the Iraqi political scene.

#Irak: Ahmad Hassan, @Alforat_TV correspondent in Diwaniya fighting death after a gunshot assassination attempt by masked gunmen.

pic.twitter.com/OvVrOXNqeK

- RSF in French (@RSF_fr) May 10, 2021

According to the High Committee for Human Rights in Iraq, 34 activists have been killed since the start of the ongoing series of assassinations, while 81 attempts targeting actors or leaders of the protest movement have since been recorded. the start of the protests against power in October 2019.

During his funeral, relatives of Ehab al-Ouazni pointed an accusing finger at armed groups close to Iran, whose growing control over the country he denounced in recent years.

In February, the activist even questioned, via Facebook, the Prime Minister, Moustafa al-Kazimi, accused of laxity: "Do you know what is happening? You know that they kidnap and kill or you live in another country than us? ".

A week before his assassination, Ehab al-Ouazni, whose life was permanently threatened and who had escaped an ambush in December 2019, asked the government of Mustafa al-Kazimi to grant him protection.

In vain. 

A climate of terror and impunity

The anger of the street does not spare the government, accused of not protecting activists from protest and of maintaining a climate of impunity and terror.

The authorities had also promised to shed light on the death of more than 500 demonstrators in 2019, without convincing result.

"We expected the current government, which came to power thanks to the protest that brought down the previous government team, to act differently and protect the freedom of speech and the lives of activists and their rights. to participate in the elections, confides Ali al-Bayati, member of the Iraqi High Committee for Human Rights, to France 24. Unfortunately, this is not the case, and this raises the question of the real measures taken by the power because we see nothing serious in terms of legal proceedings against the criminals who attack activists since the beginning of the movement in October 2019. "

According to Amar al-Hameedawi, senior reporter for France 24, specialist in Iraq, a gap is widening between, on the one hand, a youth and a secular civil society who demand the fall of the regime and the end of the stranglehold of the Iran over Iraq - and on the other, Iraqi political parties, especially Shiite religious movements, which rely on armed militias backed by Tehran, and rule the country.

"The government cannot intervene against these armed groups, any more than the police, the security forces or the army can hold them to account, nor arrest a member of these militias, and that is why the activists are killed one after the other without a person in charge being named or judged ".

"Liquidation operation"

In Iraq, supporters and actors of the protest movement fear that the groups behind these assassinations and that they accuse of acting for political ends before the early elections scheduled for October, will accelerate the pace of eliminations.

Certain political parties resulting from the protest, including Al-Beit al-Watani, have also called on activists and other movements to boycott the political sphere and the elections. 

"

How can a government that lets silenced pistols and bombs pass before its eyes guarantee a secure electoral climate?" Al-Beit al-Watani asked in a statement.

"The actors of the protest, who are present in several regions of the country, intend to bring about a change in Iraq, to ​​make the country evolve towards a real democracy and respectful of human rights, underlines Ali al-Bayati. It is in this goal that influential personalities, from or close to the movement, have announced that they want to participate in the elections scheduled for October ".

However, the campaign of assassinations is similar, according to him, to a settling of scores towards the protest movement as it embodies a threat to "certain parties who are afraid of losing big" on the political scene. "This liquidation operation aims to silence, preventively and definitively, the voices of activists and influential leaders of the movement in order to prevent them from participating in the elections or influencing the results of the vote," he said.

Scheduling elections is not just about organizing the ballot, says Ali al-Bayati.

"The government must also ensure a climate conducive to the conduct of the democratic process

,

before and after the vote

.

However, these assassinations and these violations of freedom of expression are already undermining the credibility of these elections, the results of which, in such a context, can only be considered as distorted ".

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