In the fall of 2019, an unprecedented protest movement set Baghdad and predominantly Shiite southern Iraq ablaze.
In the sights of the demonstrators, the generalized corruption and the negligence of the political class, but also the tutelage of neighboring Iran and the hold of its militias on the country.
The extremely violent repression left at least 600 dead and 21,000 injured in just a few months.
At the same time, assassinations target the leaders of the movement, a series still ongoing.
And as the country prepares to elect its MPs, more and more voices accuse pro-Iranian armed factions of being behind this campaign of systematic violence.
Reporting by Jonathan Walsh and Amar Al Hameedawi.
"They killed a free voice, a nationalist", gets carried away Ali Al-Wazni, come to meditate on the grave of his brother Ihab, forty days after his death.
Ihab Al-Wazni was murdered on May 9, 2021 in front of his home, driving his car.
He was one of the most respected figures of the protest in Karbala, a holy Shiite city located a hundred kilometers south of Baghdad.
"He only wanted a dignified life for his people, to improve people's lives. And also to reveal the truth about these parties and these militias. These militias who have been killing the Iraqi people for years and want to steal their wealth."
These blunt accusations have become commonplace in this country where armed factions are more powerful than ever.
Iraqi justice has not proceeded to any conviction in this case,
Dozens of activists have been coldly murdered over the past two years.
They were the leaders of the "October Revolution", a popular uprising on an unprecedented scale that set Baghdad and all the major cities of southern Iraq ablaze from the fall of 2019. Galloping unemployment, corruption widespread and the decline of public services have become unsustainable for a large part of the population.
Huge demonstrations are organized to demand major reforms and a change of government.
The protesters also denounce the supervision of denominational parties and their armed factions.
Many will pay with their lives for this commitment.
"A militia sent me an emissary, who told me that if I returned home, they would kill me", explains Hussein Al-Ghorabi.
"It's hard to say their names, because if I do, I think I'll die."
This activist fled Nassiriya, a city in the south which was for a long time the epicenter of the protest.
An essential face of the movement, he now leads the life of a hunted man.
Hussein Al-Ghorabi nevertheless dreams of a political destiny which would allow him to defend the ideas of the "October Revolution".
"I have a moral duty after the sacrifice of those who died during the revolution, I must carry their voice", he claims.
"The suffering that strikes the cities of the predominantly Shiite south is the same as in the time of Saddam Hussein. There is no social justice, no infrastructure,
no work.
All this pushed the street to rise up, that's the 'October Revolution'."
A threat to Iran's regional power
It is in this impoverished south that militias have recruited en masse to fight the Islamic State group.
Ayatollah Ali Sistani, the highest Shiite authority in Iraq, called for taking up arms against the jihadists in 2014. These groups then experienced an unprecedented rise in power, with the help of neighboring Iran.
Like all the protesters, Hussein Al-Ghorabi today accuses these same armed factions of wanting to assassinate the "October Revolution": "We are cities that they claim to defend, but unfortunately they have turned their weapons and their silencers against us. They think that the Iraqi state that we dream of represents their disappearance, the end of the militias".
The targeted killings are part of a systematic campaign of violence that dates back to the early days of the protest movement.
"Between October 1 and December 31, 2019, there were 600 deaths, that's not nothing! 600 dead, 21,000 injured, 29,000 imprisoned! The degree of repression was terrible", vehemently recalls Adel Bakawan , director of the French Center for Research on Iraq.
The security forces now accept some responsibility.
But armed groups are also accused of having targeted the demonstrators during deadly illegal actions.
Even former Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi admits: "Forces more powerful than the state did not want to hear these voices and suppressed the protests."
A key figure is regularly designated as the mastermind of the repression during the first months of the protest: Iranian General Qassem Soleimani, commander of the elite forces of the Revolutionary Guards.
Before his elimination, in January 2020, by an American drone strike, he regularly traveled to Iraq.
"Qassem Soleimani himself had set up a committee," says Adel Bakawan.
"Of course, he didn't call it a repression committee. It was a stability and security committee, something of that nature, and Soleimani himself drew up the day-to-day program for the repression."
"These young people, these demonstrations, are an attack on their influence. It is a threat to regional power that Iran wishes to play. And therefore, they must be silenced", adds Agnès Callamard, secretary general of 'Amnesty International.
Faced with increasing violence, the demonstrators openly accuse their powerful neighbor and the militias close to Tehran.
Iranian diplomatic representations are targeted in several cities in the south.
The omnipotence of paramilitary groups
The death of Qassem Soleimani does not end the repression.
The armed groups close ranks and even the powerful Moqtada Al-Sadr, a claimed nationalist, quickly calls for an end to the protest movement.
However, his men are first in charge of protecting the gatherings.
But the clashes multiplied and, in February 2020, the Sadrists were accused of having killed several demonstrators in the holy city of Najaf.
By denouncing the hold of the armed factions, the "October Revolution" came up against the very foundations of the new Iraqi state.
After 2003, the denominational system gave a preponderant place to the Shiites, persecuted under Saddam Hussein.
Leaders of this community have since turned their paramilitary groups into all-powerful actors, often with the help of Iran.
Two years after its outbreak, the popular uprising has run out of steam.
Fear continues to gain ground, and the killings continue.
The son of Fatima Al-Bahadili, a known activist from Basra, was shot dead in late July.
Once again after repeated threats from militiamen.
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