Foreign
IRAQI judicial authorities said on Friday they had set up a commission to investigate deadly violence during anti-government protests that took place in a southern province the day before.
The supreme judicial council’s spokesman Abdel-Sattar Bairaqdar said on Friday, according to Iraq’s official news agency INA.
At least 32 people were killed in clashes between security forces and protesters in the southern province of Dhi Qar on Thursday, one of the bloodiest days since anti-government rallies started in Iraq in early October.
The Supreme Judicial Council, Iraq’s highest judicial authority, has formed a three-judge panel to conduct an “urgent investigation into protester killings” in Dhi Qar, Bairaqdar said.
It was not immediately clear when the commission will complete the probe.
Street protests have roiled Iraq since early October, with demonstrators calling for the resignation of the government, the dissolution of parliament and an overhaul of the country’s political system, which has been in place since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.
Several rights groups have accused the Iraqi security forces of using excessive violence to quell the protests.
Iraqi authorities have repeatedly accused “outlaws” of taking advantage of peaceful protests to attack demonstrators and security forces, and of vandalising public and private property.
The demonstrations are the largest in Iraq since Dec. 2017, when Baghdad declared the liberation of all territory previously under the control of Islamic State extremists. (dpa/NAN)
– Nov. 29, 2019 @ 12:55 GMT |
Tags: Iraq probes deadly crackdown on anti-government protesters
