Baghdad (AFP)
A journalist known in Iraq the target of an assassination attempt was on Monday between life and death, 24 hours after the murder of one of the biggest voices against the stranglehold of Iran and armed groups in the country.
Twice, Sunday around 1:00 am and Monday at the same time, men armed with pistols equipped with silencers fired at the two men.
Attacked on his way home, activist Ehab al-Ouazni, coordinator of anti-power protests in Kerbala, a Shiite holy city in the south, died instantly.
Journalist Ahmed Hassan of the al-Fourat channel, shot in the head in Diwaniya, further south, was transferred to Baghdad where he underwent several operations and "will remain in intensive care for two more weeks", according to the specialist hospital where he was admitted.
He was about to get out of his SUV outside his home when the attack took place.
Both attacks shocked Iraq, even though the country is used to pre-election violence.
Early legislative elections have been announced for October 2021.
- Impunity -
But the impunity on which the killers seem to rely to strike known figures, each time under the eye of surveillance cameras, has resurfaced the specter of political eliminations, in a country which was customary especially during the religious conflict ( 2006-2009).
Since the start of the unprecedented popular uprising in October 2019, at least 70 activists have been victims of assassinations or attempted assassinations and dozens kidnapped, sometimes briefly.
Hicham al-Hachémi, a specialist in jihadism, was assassinated in July 2020 in front of his children in front of his house in Baghdad.
No one claimed responsibility for these assassinations, but for the militants, as for the UN, they are "militias" in a country where armed groups financed by the big neighbor Iran have continued to gain influence.
"Iran's militias have assassinated Ehab al-Ouazni and are going to kill us all, they threaten us and the government remains silent," denounced one of his friends in a video shot in the morgue.
According to his relatives, Ehab Ouazni had recently told the police to feel threatened but no protection had been granted to him.
Shortly after his assassination, a dozen groups, including Al-Beit al-Watani, one of the few parties born of the "October revolution", announced that they would boycott the legislative 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, after several candidates said they had received death threats.
- "Iran clears" -
For the deputy Saad al-Helfi, of the camp of the influential Shiite dignitary Moqtada Sadr, "the return of the assassinations aims to obstruct the elections".
And, warned Moqtada Sadr, himself a former militia leader, in a tweet: "taking part in the elections is done under certain conditions, assassinations are not one".
After the attacks, anger erupted against Iran, the active power in Iraq, whose allies hold the second bloc in the Iraqi parliament.
On Sunday evening, protests took place in Diwaniya and Nassiriya, as protesters burned tires and prefabs outside the Iranian consulate in Kerbala.
Iran's foreign ministry said it had "complained" to the Iraqi embassy in Tehran.
Before that, the participants in the funeral procession of Ehab Ouazni in Kerbala had chanted "Iran get out!"
or "The people want the fall of the regime!".
The police may well say that they will "spare no effort" to capture the perpetrators of this assassination and Prime Minister Moustafa al-Kazimi promise to "catch up with the killers", they have not convinced.
Activists believe that Kazimi, also head of intelligence, has still not done justice to the critics assassinated, a year after taking office.
Ehab Ouazni himself attacked Mr. Kazimi in February on Facebook: "Do you know what's going on? You know they kidnap and kill or you live in another country than us ? ".
© 2021 AFP