Jane Arraf, The New York Times
Published: 26 May 2021 03:19 PM BdST
Updated: 26 May 2021 03:19 PM BdST Antigovernment protesters rally in Baghdad on Tuesday, May 25, 2021. The New York Times.
‘Who killed me?’ the signs asked, alongside images of dead men and women, among the roughly 80 Iraqi activists murdered since late 2019. Young demonstrators held aloft the posters in Baghdad’s Tahrir Square on Tuesday, illustrating both the enduring spark and diminished strength of Iraq’s anti-government protest movement. );
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The demonstrators (publicly) and Iraqi officials (privately) say they know who killed many of the activists: Iran-backed militias that have essentially crushed a grassroots anti-corruption movement that blames Iranian influence, and the militias, for many of Iraq’s ills. In a country where militias nominally a part of the security apparatus operate with impunity, the killers have gone unpunished.
Iraqi Activism Fights for Survival Amid Murders and Threats
A movement demanding a new kind of Iraq struggles to carry on, despite intimidation from Iranian-backed militias that are believed to have murdered dozens of activists.
Protesters and riot police on Tahrir Square in Baghdad on Tuesday.Credit.Andrea DiCenzo for The New York Times
May 25, 2021Updated 5:29 p.m. ET
BAGHDAD ‘Who killed me?’ the signs asked, alongside images of dead men and women, among the roughly 80 Iraqi activists murdered since late 2019. Young demonstrators held aloft the posters in Baghdad’s Tahrir Square on Tuesday, illustrating both the enduring spark and diminished strength of Iraq’s anti-government protest movement.
The chief justice of the Islamabad High Court asked the interior secretary, the chief commissioner and the inspector general police of Islamabad to take measures to curb the menace or face consequences. AFP/File
ISLAMABAD: Terming bonded labour modern day slavery, the chief justice of the Islamabad High Court asked the interior secretary, the chief commissioner and the inspector general police of Islamabad to take measures to curb the menace or face consequences.
Chief Justice Athar Minallah was conducting the hearing on a petition filed by a concerned citizen about captivity of juvenile bonded labourers on Wednesday.
Labour Officer Ghani Mohammad appeared before the court and Justice Minallah asked him what action had so far been taken to put an end to the menace of bonded labour within Islamabad Capital Territory. He replied that labour officials had been visiting brick kilns to ensure that labour laws were implemented there, but his reply failed to satisfy the court.