- Title: Iraqis call for accountability over protester killings
- Date: 18th July 2021
- Summary: BAGHDAD, IRAQ (JULY 18, 2021) (REUTERS) PROTESTERS BANGING ON DRUMS PROTESTERS MARCHING AND CHANTING PROTESTERS MARCHING WHILE HOLDING LARGE BANNER READING (Arabic): "Resignation is a form of evading punishment" PROTESTERS CARRYING BANNER WITH PICTURES OF PEOPLE WHO WERE KILLED IN PROTESTS AND ASSASSINATIONS PROTESTERS WALKING PAST SECURITY FORCES VARIOUS OF PROTEST (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) SPOKESPERSON OF 'END IMPUNITY FOR MURDERS', ZAYED AL-ADDAD, SAYING: "We have a disfigured democracy, they falsely showed other countries and the international community that we have a democracy, while the reality is completely the opposite. Today, in 14 cities and capitals around the world, we try to express our opinions and making the voices of Iraqis heard to people in other countries, so that they can set their governments accountable, to alert international organisations concerned with human rights." VARIOUS OF PROTEST MAN HOLDING PICTURE OF MURDERED MAN, WOMAN HOLDING IRAQI FLAG (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) PROTESTER, LAITH HUSSEIN, SAYING: "We say that there is no justice in Iraq, we call for implementing a system of accountability and ending impunity because this is the source of all problems in Iraq. We diagnosed the problem in Iraq, this is a human and legal demand, not just political." VARIOUS OF PROTEST
- Embargoed: 1st August 2021 19:44
- Keywords: Baghdad Iraq protesters protests
- Location: BAGHDAD, IRAQ
- City: BAGHDAD, IRAQ
- Country: Iraq
- Topics: Middle East,Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA001EMDAIBR
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Nearly 400 Iraqi protesters took to the streets of the capital Baghdad on Sunday (July 18) to demand an end to impunity in the country for the killing of protesters and activists over the past two years.
Organisers said that the march, which coincided with International Justice Day on July 17, aimed to pressure Iraqi authorities to investigate crimes involving the deaths of protesters and political activists.
Campaigners calling to 'End impunity in Iraq' organised several marches in various capitals around the world. In Baghdad, protesters marched to the capital's famous Tahrir Square to voice their demands.
Protesters said that they were demanding reforms to the justice system, including the release of activists jailed in politically-motivated cases and a call for accountability for all those involved in the killing of protesters.
The United Nations says at least 32 anti-establishment activists have died in targeted killings by unidentified armed groups since October 2019.
Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi pledged to bring perpetrators to justice after he took office in May 2020. There have, so far, been no successful prosecutions over protester killings.
(Production: Haider Khadim, Maher Nazeh, Mai Shams El-Din) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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