BAGHDAD — Iraq’s Basra Felony Courtroom sentenced a second man to loss of life on Nov. 1 for involvement in a loss of life squad that killed a number of Iraqi journalists and activists. One other convict was additionally sentenced to death a day earlier than for a similar crime.
In accordance with Iraqi safety officers, Hamza Kadhim al-Aidani and Aqeel Hadi have been arrested in early 2021 with different members who labored as a part of a “community of 16 individuals liable for assassinations.” Photographs of the boys underneath arrest have been extensively circulated at the moment.
The court docket’s conviction is preliminary and topic to a 30-day attraction interval.
The victims have been Ahmad Abdessamad, an Al-Dijla channel information correspondent, and his cameraman, Safaa Ghali, who lined the 2019 protests in Basra. On Jan. 11, 2020, as they have been driving residence, one other automotive pulled up subsequent to theirs and opened hearth, killing Abdessamad on the spot and injuring Ghali, who later died within the hospital.
After the court docket’s ruling, a video of Abdessamad’s mom expressing her satisfaction with the “righteous” verdict was shared on social media platforms.
Through the 2019 mass protests, many took to the streets to protest in opposition to overseas interference within the nation, lack of primary companies and armed militias exterior of state management. Because of this, greater than 600 have been killed, 30,000 injured, and dozens of journalists and activists have been systematically focused.
Earlier than his assassination, Abdessamad knowledgeable his followers on social media that he had acquired loss of life threats from militias due to overlaying the protesters and criticizing Iranian-backed militias.
The Iraqi Supreme Judicial Council launched a press release on Nov. 2 that the convicted felons “confessed to all the main points of this crime with a motive of destabilizing the nation and spreading terror within the hearts of individuals and demonstrators.”
Aidani confessed to being the motive force within the loss of life squad liable for killing Abdessamad. He mentioned the squad additionally consisted of Ahmad Twaisia because the staff chief, Abbas Hashim to trace the sufferer and shooter Ahmad Abdul-Karim. Aqeel Hadi, one other member of this squad, was allegedly liable for killing Mujtaba Ahmad, a 14-year-old protester in Basra.
Solely Aidani and Hadi have been arrested. The opposite members stay at massive and have but to be prosecuted.
Twaisia was formally affiliated with Katai’b Hezbollah (KH). His photograph beside late Standard Mobilization Models (PMU) chief Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis and present chief of the PMU parliamentary bloc Hadi al-Amiri has circulated in social media.
A supply in legal court docket knowledgeable Al-Monitor that Aidani confessed that the squad acquired their orders from their superiors in KH to systematically goal and kill activists, journalists and likewise members of Iraqi safety forces. The superiors satisfied their followers that the orders have been fatwas issued by Iranian Supreme Chief Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
The members of the squad labored inside completely different safety forces institutes, utilizing their positions and relations to hold out their operations.
The Iraqi authorities has changed many safety officers to be able to counteract the affect of militia networks. At the moment, Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi dismissed the top of the Iraqi Nationwide Safety Service.
The top of the well-known Falcon Intelligence Cell, Abu Ali al-Basri, was additionally dismissed earlier this yr. The Falcon Intelligence Cell is a counterterrorism unit throughout the Iraqi Inside Ministry. Basri was accused of facilitating militia operations throughout his time.
Aidani, born in 1983, was a member of the judicial police in Basra and joined the PMU in 2014. He was an energetic member for 18 months and returned to the police drive whereas sustaining contact with the PMU.
He confessed that his loss of life squad additionally attacked Basra Gov. Asaad al-Eidani and development CEO Hatem al-Daraji and killed Mujtaba Ahmad, Jenan Madha and intelligence officer Muthanna Adnan.
Throughout at the moment’s Cupboard assembly, Kadhimi praised Iraqi judges and the Judiciary Council. “We pursued the murderous teams that have been concerned within the killing, and we succeeded in arresting the killers of the martyr Hisham al-Hashimi and Ahmed Abd al-Samad, and we are going to proceed to pursue the killers and everybody concerned in Iraqi blood,” Kadhimi mentioned.
Hashimi was a outstanding Iraqi safety analyst who was assassinated by gunmen on bikes exterior his residence within the Iraqi capital in July 2020. One member of the assassination group was arrested earlier this yr and just lately sentenced to loss of life.
“We assist the independence of the judiciary,” Kadhimi mentioned. “We don’t search revenge; moderately, our predominant aim is to attain justice.”
