Nasiriyah – Two protesters within the southern Iraqi city of Nasiriyah have been killed Wednesday in clashes with safety forces at a rally after a militant was sentenced to jail, authorities introduced.
Haidar al-Zaidi, 20, was sentenced to a few years in jail for a tweet of disputed origin deemed insulting to a former pro-Iranian paramilitary drive, based on court docket paperwork seen by AFP on Wednesday.
The decision, which Zaidi can enchantment, drew criticism on social media.
And on the streets of Nasiriyah – the regional capital of Dhi Qar province and a hotbed of anti-government protests – lots of of individuals gathered on Wednesday night time for a second straight day.
Protesters lamented the jail sentence and likewise demanded compensation for protesters injured by safety forces in late 2019, an AFP correspondent mentioned.
Riot police confronted the gang in central Habboubi sq. with “brutal” drive and “fired dwell ammunition”, mentioned protester Mohammed al-Iraqi, who spoke to AFP in a press release. morgue the place dozens of family members and buddies of the 2 victims gathered.
Hussein Riyad, spokesman for the Dhi Qar provincial well being ministry, informed AFP “two demonstrators have been killed” within the clashes and 21 individuals have been injured, together with 5 by gunshots.
Riyadh mentioned a policeman was amongst these injured.
Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani ordered a safety delegation to be despatched to the province “to analyze casualties amongst protesters”.
The provincial administration castigated “infiltrators” among the many demonstrators who threw Molotov cocktails on the military.
“What occurred at this time was premeditated,” he mentioned in a press release.
– ‘Impunity’
Zaidi was sentenced within the capital Baghdad on Monday for a long-deleted put up from his Twitter account criticizing Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the slain deputy commander of the previous paramilitary drive Hashed al-Shaabi.
Screenshots of the disputed tweet have been shared by accounts near the Hashed.
The activist wrote on Fb on Sunday that he faces prices of “insulting state establishments”.
The New York-based advocacy group Human Rights Watch (HRW) known as for Zaidi’s instant launch and urged Iraqi authorities to not use the courts to stifle criticism.
Muhandis was killed in a US drone strike in Baghdad in January 2020 alongside Iranian overseas operations commander Common Qasem Soleimani.
He’s revered as a martyr by the Hashed, a paramilitary group embedded within the Iraqi safety forces and whose political wing is a part of Iraq’s ruling coalition.
Zaidi denied posting the tweet, saying his account was hacked, based on HRW.
“No matter who posted the Twitter message, the Iraqi justice system shouldn’t be used as a instrument to suppress peaceable criticism of authorities or armed actors,” mentioned HRW deputy director for the Center East, Adam Coogle. .
“It is a unhappy reflection on the rule of legislation in Iraq that an activist like Zaidi will get three years in jail for a Twitter put up he says he did not write whereas dozens of officers and armed teams get pleasure from impunity for killing activists and protesters”.
On social media, customers contrasted Zaidi’s jail sentence with the current launch on bail of businessman Nour Zuhair Jassem, accused of fraudulently withdrawing a major $2.5 billion in funds that have been allegedly stolen from a authorities account.
Nasiriyah was a stronghold in a wave of anti-government protests that hit Iraq in late 2019 and was crushed by authorities in a bloody crackdown that killed greater than 600 individuals.
The impoverished metropolis has since seen rallies of younger individuals demanding public sector jobs.
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