Iraqi human rights watchdog seeks probe of Badr leader Amiri over 2019 protest remarks

BAGHDAD, Iraq — The Iraqi Observatory for Human Rights has asked the country's chief prosecutor to open an ex officio investigation into Badr Organization leader Hadi al-Amiri over his characterization of the October 2019 protests as "sedition," the observatory said in a written statement dated Sept. 3, 2026. The observatory said Amiri's remarks pointed to the role of armed groups in confronting the demonstrations and were incompatible with the right to peaceful assembly. It documented that more than 600 people, most of them young, were killed in the suppression of the October protests in central and southern cities, including Baghdad's Karkh district, based on field work by the group's teams. The statement also referenced the killing of Ihab al-Wazni and Amjad al-Dahhamat, an assassination attempt on Ludiya Raymond, and the case of Sicad al-Mushrefawi, who has been missing since 2020. It noted that the investigation commissions established since 2019 have not been given sufficient authority and that no suspects have been brought before the courts. The observatory said the families of those killed have been waiting for justice for seven years. No further details on the prosecution's response were immediately available.