While there is usually a statement or two by Amnesty International or other human rights organizations in cases involving the targeting of defenders of human rights, there is no substantial followup and certainly no global outcry.
The global outcry is about “Islamophobia,” a concept pushed by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and marketed particularly by Pakistan and Muslim Brotherhood groups. With such a focus, those who shed light on the truth about the range of abuses in Islamic countries, about abusive Islamic texts, about the lower status of women in Islamic law, about Sharia abuses, etc., are deemed to be “Islamophobic.”
Iraq has been plagued by Iran-backed militias, particularly in the Basra area, with “the growing influence of the militias, which played a major role in retaking Iraqi territory from Islamic State militants, who are Sunni Muslims.” Iran has also been growing in power and influence regionally, thanks in part to Biden and other Western leaders who support an Iran deal that will see Iran’s jihad ambitions well-funded.
This is what life is like for human rights defenders living in Iraq:
Sajjad Mohammed, Karim’s close friend, told MEE: “I cannot believe that Ali will be buried under the ground and his killers still appear and in front of the government. No one will arrest them. They are militia. It means they are more powerful than government.”
Another Basra-based activist, Mehdi Salah said:
“The government has failed to protect its citizens, activists, journalists….We might be the next target. They can kill us wherever and whenever they want.”
“Iraq: Son of prominent women’s rights activist found shot dead near Basra,” by Azhar Al-Rubaie, Middle East Eye, July 25, 2021:
The son of a prominent Iraqi rights activist has been found shot dead in the country’s south a day after he’d gone missing.
The body of Ali Karim, 26, the son of Basra activist Fatima al-Bahadly, was found in Basra, southern Iraq, on Saturday, after being missing for 24 hours.
Karim, who had been “kidnapped” by unidentified assailants on Friday, was found 24 hours later west of the city of Basra, according to relatives speaking to Iraqi media before his funeral.
A medical source said that Karim had been shot in the head and chest.
Karim’s mother founded the al-Firdaws Society, which focuses on the protection and education of women and campaigns against the recruitment of young people into armed groups.
She has been the target of public accusations from some political parties, who claim that she is bound to “external connections”, said Ali al-Bayati, a member of the Iraqi government’s human rights commission, who said that Karim had been abducted and shot dead.
Due to her work, she has been the “subject of death threats and has faced severe social pressure” over the years, according to the Ireland-based Front Line Defenders rights group.
Former Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi mourned Karim’s death.
“We condemn the continuing campaign of assassinations of activists,” he said.
‘Serious investigation’
The EU ambassador in Iraq, Martin Huth, expressed his condolences and called for a “serious investigation” into Karim’s killing.
Donatella Rovera of Amnesty International said on Twitter: “Iraq’s civil society activists continue to pay with their lives – and the lives of their children.”
Fatima al-Bahadly had received threats from local militias two months ago, asking her to leave Basra.
In 2018, Bahadly and other workers in the NGO were accused by Iran-backed media outlets of links to the US during protests, claiming that Bahadly was behind those happening in Basra.
Bahadly only recently won a Frontline Defenders Award for her activism in Iraq.
Middle East Eye met Bahadly while mourning for her son in the forensic medicine department in a Basra hospital, where she was waiting for health authorities to finish their autopsy
“Less than one year has passed since my son Ahmed was killed. And now the killing of my elder son. Where should I go? To whom should I complain?” she said to MEE.
She prefers not to name the killers while an investigation is underway. But she said she received threats from armed groups in the past. “They usually send me threats to make pressure on me to leave the country or my city, but I did not leave.”
A medic told MEE that they had found four bullets in Karim’s body: two in his head and two in his chest.
‘They can kill us whenever they want’
Sajjad Mohammed, Karim’s close friend, told MEE: “I cannot believe that Ali will be buried under the ground and his killers still appear and in front of the government. No one will arrest them.
“They are militia. It means they are more powerful than government,” he added.
Basra-based activist, Mehdi Salah said: “The government has failed to protect its citizens, activists, journalists. What happened is a strong violation of human rights. What was his mistake? Just because of his mother, Fatima al-Bahadly?
“We might be the next target. They can kill us wherever and whenever they want.”….
Kashyap says
The absence of outcry from activists & governments is a tragedy of the century. What is apparent is the so-called civilized will realize the blunder of passive support once the situation becomes irreversible.
mortimer says
Human rights take a back seat to religious fanaticism in Muslim countries. Sharia law allows vigilante killings directed against any critic of Islam. Anyone who speaks out against the practices of discriminatory Sharia law becomes a target of the Islamic vigilantes.
Islam sees opponents of Sharia supremacism as ‘enemies of Islam’ who must be fought to the death (Arabic q-t-l).
gravenimage says
Not just a back seat, Mortimer–human rights are un-Islamic. Most Muslim nations rejected the UnN Declaration of Human Rights and instead substituted the “Cairo Declaration of Human Rights in Islam”, which is just Shari’ah with a false whitewash.
gravenimage says
Iraq: Son of prominent rights activist found shot dead, Iran-backed jihad militias suspected
……………
Horrifying–but I am sadly not surprised.