Four dead in Iraq security crackdown despite calls to ban live ammunition
At least four Iraqi protesters were killed and 130 wounded in clashes with security forces yesterday, hours after Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi banned the use of live ammunition and violence against demonstrators.
Mass protests calling for an overhaul of the political system established in 2003 have raged for more than a month in cities across the country, including Karbala and Baghdad.
The Iraqi High Commission for Human Rights described the events that occurred in the southern city of Nasirayah as regrettable and said some of the wounded were in serious condition.
Casualties in Nasiriyah resulted from confrontations outside the education directorate as security forces tear-gassed protesters trying to block employees from reaching the building in the city centre.
Security forces have used live ammunition, tear gas and stun grenades against young, unarmed protesters, killing more than 320 and injuring 15,000 since the unrest over living conditions began on October 1.
Despite the violence, demonstrators said they faced a wave of arrests and threats aimed at keeping them away from Baghdad’s Tahrir Square.
“I got a direct call saying do not return to the place where you’ve been working. I didn’t know the number. They said we’ve seen you publish on Twitter and do not return,” Ahmed Mahder, 23, a civil activist and protester who has a significant following on social media, told The National.
He was one of the few protesters able to regularly post from the square using a foreign sim card, after the government cut internet connection.
Regardless of the intimidation and threats they face, protesters are determined to stay in Tahrir Square no matter the cost.
“We’re not afraid, we will continue in these protests. Until they kill everyone from this generation, then the protests will end. But it’s impossible these protests will end because of fear,” Haidar Thamer, 24, a film director and protester, told The National.
The UN’s top envoy to Iraq, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert yesterday met Iraq’s Shiite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali Al Sistani in Najaf to discuss a road map to resolve the protests and put forward a series of reforms.
“The marjaiyah made it clear that it supports the conduct of serious reforms in a reasonable period of time,” she said, using the Arabic name for Mr Al Sistani’s religious authority. “Within that context, it welcomes the proposals of the United Nations, including the proposal for one consolidated electoral framework.”
Mrs Hennis-Plasschaert said the UN would monitor the government’s progress to ensure measures were being “done promptly, swiftly and decisively, because this country needs to move forward”.
The UN mission in Iraq announced on Sunday night a series of short and long-term measures aimed at tackling the protester’s demands, including electoral reform and anti-corruption initiatives.
These include a release of all detained peaceful protesters, investigations into the killings of protesters, declarations of assets by political leaders, corruption trials and constitutional changes to make leaders more accountable.
But Mr Al Sistani expressed “concern that the political forces are not serious enough to conduct these reforms,” Ms Hennis-Plasschaert said.
“He also stressed the demonstrators cannot go home without sufficient results,” she said.
The UN yesterday was expected to hold a session to examine Iraq’s human rights records.
“We don’t want reforms, we don’t want this government at
all, we want a new government, a transparent government,” Ali Shuhany, 21, a student protester, told The National.
“The protests will continue until we get those rights,” he said.
Haider Thamer, 24, like many protesters, called on the UN to intervene to prevent the violence from escalating.
“A young man who hasn’t seen anything in his life and he is gone in an instant. A young man,” Mr Thamer said.
“Isn’t it necessary that human rights organisations intervene? Isn’t it necessary for the bullets to stop? Isn’t it necessary for the suppression to stop?” he said.
Washington echoed the UN’s call for early elections and electoral reforms and called on the government to stop using violence against protesters.
On Sunday, the White House urged the Iraqi government to “halt the violence against protesters and fulfil President [Barham] Saleh’s promise to pass electoral reform and hold early elections”.
“The United States is seriously concerned by continued attacks against protesters, civic activists and the media, as well as restrictions on internet access, in Iraq,” it said.
Mr Saleh proposed an early ballot after reforms but his suggestion seems to have been dismissed by the country’s political class.
Iraqi leaders said on Sunday that electoral reforms should give more chances for young people to participate in politics.