Iran-backed militias accused of reign of fear in Iraqi Basra
Dinar Daily :: DINAR/IRAQ -- NEWS -- GURUS and DISCUSSIONS :: IRAQ and DINAR -- ARTICLE BASED INFORMATION and DISCUSSIONS
Page 1 of 1
Iran-backed militias accused of reign of fear in Iraqi Basra

In this Tuesday, Sept. 18, 2018 photo, Hajar Youssif, an Iraqi activist and volunteer medic, who was kidnapped, beaten and threatened for attending protests, waits with first aid supplies at a protest, in Basra, Iraq. Activists say powerful Iranian-backed militias that control Iraq’s oil capital of Basra have waged a campaign of intimidation and arbitrary arrests to silence protests aimed at poor government services and Tehran’s outsized influence in the region. (Nabil al-Jurani/Associated Press)
BASRA, Iraq — Hajar Youssif was on her daily commute to work, staring at her phone and flicking through her Instagram account when she looked up to find herself in an unusual location. The taxi driver had turned into an alley.
When she questioned the driver, he sped up.
“I started to feel uneasy and knew that something bad was going to happen,” said the 24-year-old office administrator, who had taken part in protests over lack of clean water, frequent power cuts and soaring unemployment in her hometown of Basra, Iraq’s oil capital and main port.
She yelled and tried to open the door, but the driver had locked it. The taxi swerved into a courtyard where three masked men were waiting.
“They immediately told me, ‘We’ll teach you a lesson. Let it be a warning to other protesters’,” Youssif said in an interview several days after the incident.
The men slapped and beat her and pulled off her Islamic headscarf, she said. “At the end, they grabbed me by my hair and warned me not to take part in the protests before blindfolding me and dumping me on the streets,” she said, her cheeks still bruised.
Youssif believes the attack was part of what she and other activists describe as a campaign of intimidation and arbitrary detentions by powerful Iranian-backed Shiite militias and political groups that control Basra, a city of more than 2 million people in southern Iraq’s Shiite Muslim heartland.
Angry Basra residents have repeatedly taken to the streets in recent weeks to protest failing government services, including water contamination that sent thousands to hospitals.
Earlier this month, protests turned violent when demonstrators attacked and torched government offices, the headquarters of the Iranian-backed militias and Iran’s consulate in Basra — in a show of anger over what many residents perceive as Iran’s outsized control over local affairs.
The events in Basra reflect the growing influence of the militias, which played a major role in retaking Iraqi territory from Islamic State militants, who are Sunni Muslims.
Shortly after IS militants captured much of northern and western Iraq in 2014, tens of thousands of Shiite men answered a call-to-arms by the top Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani.
Many volunteers were members of Iran-backed militias active since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein, while others formed new groups. These fighters are credited with helping government forces defeat the extremists. But during the war, the militiamen were also accused by Sunnis and rights groups of abuses against the Sunni community, including killings, torture and destruction of homes.
Buoyed by victory against IS, some of the most feared Shiite militias took part in the May national elections and their list — Fatah — won 48 seats in the 329-seat parliament.
Fatah and other factions formed a wider Iran-backed coalition in parliament earlier this month and will likely be tasked with forming the new government.
In Basra, some alleged the militias were working with local authorities to quell the protests — a charge denied by Bassem al-Khafaji, head of Sayyed al-Shuhada, one of several Basra militias.
He said threats and intimidation of protesters were “individual acts,” but not the result of a central directive.
“Our order for all the factions in Basra ... is not to confront the protesters who burned down the offices of the militias,” al-Khafaji said, arguing that the militias are trying to prevent more bloodshed.
He accused infiltrators of turning the protests violent and said the alleged saboteurs must be dealt with by the security agencies.
Some militia leaders in Basra accused protesters of colluding with the U.S., which has long worked to curb Iranian influence in Iraq.
A local leader of a prominent militia vowed to retaliate.
“We have pictures of those who burned down our headquarters and they will pay dearly,” he said on condition of anonymity in line with his group’s rules for speaking to the media. “We will not let them attack us again and if they do we’ll open fire. That’s what we’ve agreed on, all of us.”
The government has said protesters’ demands are legitimate, but claims infiltrators were behind the violence.
A senior official in the Interior Ministry’s intelligence service said dozens have been arrested since the protests began. He acknowledged that others may be held by political parties and their militias, but said his office has no way of tracking that. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
Activist Naqeeb al-Luaibi said he has been able to track only 30 protesters detained by the security agencies. Of those, 19 were discharged and 11 remain under arrest. Al-Luaibi said he believes dozens of others are still being held but said it was difficult to track them.
Mahdi Salah Hassan, 26, said he was arrested by security forces from a protest tent in early August. He said he was handcuffed, blindfolded and initially held in a room with 33 other protesters.
During three days of violent interrogation, Hassan said he was slapped on the face, hit with a cable on his feet and back and hung by the arms from the ceiling.
Hassan said he was then transferred to two other lockups, each holding several dozen protesters. When they released him after six days, they told him “Don’t take part in protests or you won’t see the sun,” he said. Still, he said he’ll continue to protest.
Two other activists, Ahmed al-Wihaili and Sara Talib, both 23, said they were threatened.
Al-Wihaili said an anonymous caller warned him that “you only cost us the price of a bullet.”
Talib said she came home one day to find her door open and her belongings strewn across the floor. During one protest, someone approached her and told her to go home because she was putting her life in danger.
Youssif, who wore white scrubs during the protests as a volunteer medic, said the beating left her shaken and that threats continue, but she won’t be deterred.
“I’m taking to the streets for the sake of my town Basra, to get public services and to get rid of those militias and political parties,” she said. “I’m not afraid of them. These militias will not deter me from going out until we change our life.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/iran-backed-militias-accused-of-reign-of-fear-in-iraqi-basra/2018/09/23/f5d7442a-befc-11e8-8243-f3ae9c99658a_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.47b4cab2afe4
GirlBye- VIP NewsHound
- Posts : 1481
Join date : 2018-07-09
Location : So Cal

» Can Kadhimi curb the influence of Iran-backed militias in Iraq?
» Iraqi currency backed strongly there is no fear on the dinar exchange rate against the dollar
» Iran sanctions: Iraqi merchants fear unknown future
» Iran-backed Iraqi militia leader urges formal security role on border with Syria
» US praises role of Iranian-backed Shiite militias in Baiji operation
» Iraqi currency backed strongly there is no fear on the dinar exchange rate against the dollar
» Iran sanctions: Iraqi merchants fear unknown future
» Iran-backed Iraqi militia leader urges formal security role on border with Syria
» US praises role of Iranian-backed Shiite militias in Baiji operation
Dinar Daily :: DINAR/IRAQ -- NEWS -- GURUS and DISCUSSIONS :: IRAQ and DINAR -- ARTICLE BASED INFORMATION and DISCUSSIONS
Page 1 of 1
Permissions in this forum:
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
» 74.2 million people in the USA have not had a single dose of a Covid-19 Vaccine, & another 157 million have refused a 2nd or 3rd dose according to CDC
» Unprecedented Mortality Rates – must be Climate Change!!
» Thailand giving away one million cannabis plants to encourage citizens to grow natural medicine
» America is being suicided by John Kaminski
» Textbook Tony
» Angela Hitler gathers lieutenants in Germany to mourn loss of Fourth Reich
» 10 years of the new notes came out!
» The Association of Brokerage Companies: Changing the dollar exchange rate contributed to raising the value of Iraqi shares
» Iran: Exports to Iraq amounted to $9.5 billion
» Al-Hakim calls for choosing the next prime minister within specific criteria
» What does Iraq look in a post-Sadr era?
» Sadrist leading figure to the Coordination Framework: the fire you made will burn everyone
» Iraqi parliament swears in new members to replace Sadrists
» USD/IQD closes slightly lower in Baghdad
» Norway offers US$ 7.5 million to Iraq
» Asia's thirst for cheap Russian oil hits Opec's No 2 producer Iraq
» Iraq’s exposure to US securities was up to about $28 billion in April
» The Central Bank: We have taken effective measures to protect the banking sector and combat money laundering
» Al Qirtas Islamic Bank - The first use of modern systems from DN SeriesTM ATMs in Iraq
» The Central Bank of Iraq: We launched 17 trillion dinars of development initiatives
» Central: The Letter of Guarantee platform issued more than 30,000 letters, worth 9.3 trillion
» The Governor of the Central Bank discusses obstacles to the work of Islamic banks with the International Rating Agency
» The Central Bank of Iraq decides to sell the dollar to pilgrims at the official exchange rate
» The central bank is moving at a steady pace to support and revitalize the economy
» The central electronic platform for letters of guarantee enhances confidence in banking transactions
» Who's on First?
» Frank26 says - From black list removal to high credit ratings for Iraq. This is how you get a new exchange rate
» Becky McGee/Oootah - "Wanted: Attorney and/or Lawyer!" 3/10/19
» Meta 1 Coin Has Crack Team Of Lawyers? Why Is Dave Schmidt Still Rotting In Jail?
» California pot shops prepare for their first day of legal recreational marijuana sales TODAY
» One Crazy Guy
» CBI sells $1+ billion in forex for second week in a row
» Iraq and the World Bank hold a workshop to develop public debt management
» Combating financial crimes enhances confidence in the banking sector
» Forex-US dollar notches in Baghdad
» USD/IQD closes lower in Baghdad
» What Happens when Cancer is treated with Cannabis? VIDEO
» VIDEO: Viral Hydroxychloroquine Doctor Demands Joe Biden Apologize After Media Finally Acknowledges HCQ Works
» USD/IQD closes slightly higher in Baghdad