Dr. Reham Yacoub, a prominent Iraqi civilian activist, was assassinated by unknown gunmen on Wednesday in central Basra, a port city in southeastern Iraq, according to reports.
Yacoub, a nutritionist and media personality, was a prominent figure in Basra who participated in recent anti-government protests. She has been an activist in the local protest movement since 2018 and had led several women’s marches.
Mohammed Qasim, identified by the outlet as a fellow activist and friend of Yacoub, told the paper that her death was like “the assassination of all Iraqis“ and that he now fears for his own life after her death, adding that ”Basra has lost its sons and daughters because of Iran-backed militias.”
The recent wave of violence begun when activist Tahseen Osama was assassinated on Aug. 14, sparking a return of street protests in the city for 3 days, in which security forces opened live fire on protesters who threw rocks and petrol bombs at the governor’s house, and blocked several main roads.
Following the weekend’s violence, Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi on Aug. 17 sacked Basra police and national security chiefs and ordered an investigation into the assassinations and violence.
Al-Kadhimi took office in May, becoming the third Iraqi head of government after months of deadly protests in the country, which has been exhausted by decades of sanctions, war, corruption, and economic challenges.
Mass protests erupted in October last year and continued for several months, with hundreds of thousands of Iraq is demanding jobs, services, and the removal of the ruling elite, which they said was corrupt.
The protests led to the resignation of then-Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi, who was replaced in May by Kadhimi, a former intelligence chief.
Al-Kadhimi’s administration set a lofty agenda that included enacting economic reform, battling corruption, avenging protesters, and bringing arms under the authority of the state. He has pitted his government against rogue Iranian-backed militia groups.
“There’s still work to do,“ Pompeo told reporters at a State Department news conference with Iraq’s foreign minister Fuad Hussein. ”Armed groups not under the full control of the prime minister [Al-Kadhimi] have impeded our progress.”
“Those groups need to be replaced by local police as soon as possible. I assured [Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein] that we could help and we would help,” he added.
Pompeo also said that the United States is committed to supporting Iraq’s security forces “to curb the power of militias that have for far too long terrorized the Iraqi people and undermined Iraq’s national sovereignty.”
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