Sources of the
civil current organizing popular demonstrations in Iraq these days said unknown
men have assassinated four protest organizers in the provinces of Ziqar and
Basra in the south. Amongst those murdered is Sheikh Sabah al-Karmush, one of
the most renowned sit-in organizers in Basra Province who died of his wounds
after an IED placed into his vehicle detonated.
Who killed Khaled
al-Agili?
Al-Agili was a
civil movement activist and renowned amongst those who are demonstrating and
protesting these days in Baghdad against corruption, sectarian rationing and
Iran’s influence in Iraq. Unknown men came to his home, knocked on the door and
when he opened the door they riddled him with bullets using a silencer-equipped
weapon. This good man lost his life outside his own house and remained at the
site for about an hour without his family realizing at all. The murderers who
came knocking on the door had no intention but to murder him. All the locals
know these unknown men; of course not by name, but by their political and
sectarian identity.
In the meantime,
Moslem al-Rekabi and Walid al-Taie, two activists behind the demonstrations of
Nasiriya were also gunned down and assassinated through similar methods with
silencer-equipped weapons. These activists were all murdered in one day and
while going to work or at their residence. Although they were killed in
different places, according to activists their murder carries one single message:
do not go so far as to organize protests and chant slogans against Iran and its
affiliated groups. Aziz al-Halafi, Secretary-General of the National Tribal
Association in Basra referred to this very subject very specifically on that
day, after he survived an assassination attempt, and again the murderers were
using silencer-equipped weapons.
“We were
demanding our three requests. I was the most important official of my party and
I hold the Supreme Islamic Council of Iraq responsible for this,” he said.
Those who
attempted to assassinate al-Halafi were of the same group who intended to
murder Ali Zab’hawi, a demonstration activist in Najaf Province through similar
methods.
Prior to these
assassinations the protest organizers in Basra had received death threats
specifically saying they will be murdered if they do not end their presence on
the streets. These threats also called on individuals – described in the texts
as ‘turbaned’ – to return to their
mosques and religious centers, and stop poisoning the country’s political and
social atmosphere. Prior to this, Badr Corps commander Hadi al-Ameri, a known
element of Iran’s Quds Force in Iraq, very publicly threatened civil movements
and described all demonstrators as being affiliated to foreign countries. Al-Ameri
can very well live up to his threats as he is known to have death squads
roaming Iraq since 2003, assassinating and carrying out countless crimes across
the country. The real threat now is the status quo to go chaotic and become
completely out of control as demonstrations have even reached the cities of
Najaf and Karbala where the militants consider sacred grounds. These rallies
are protesting corruption across Iraq and opening various dossiers in this
regard. The demonstrators who launched their rallies with the objective of
uprooting corruption in their country are now targeting religious parties and
militants. Therefore, all militants and religious parties linked to the Quds
Force have no time to choose: either kill to prevent their annihilation, or
face prosecution in court.
In this phase the orders issued by the Quds Force to its associated
militants is to assassinate demonstration activists in various provinces,
hoping these murderers will force the people to back down from their protests
and demands. This is the same policy they resorted to back in 2011 at the
beginning of the Arab Spring in Baghdad. Back then it worked out and they were
able to quell the demonstrations. In this phase, however, Iran has seriously
miscalculated its measures because back then Maliki was the Prime Minister of
Iraq and he fully implemented the Quds Force’s policy in this country. Maliki
is gone now, and Dr. Haider al-Abadi is the Prime Minister of Iraq. This method
adopted by the Quds Force, meaning assassinated demonstration activists, will
actually backlash and radicalize demonstration against the interests of Iran
and its associated militants.
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