A chilling pattern emerged in Iraq (2019), whereby peaceful protesters, civil society activists and human rights defenders were kidnapped, tortured and assassinated. They appear to be targeted for their participation in peaceful protests that started in the beginning of October 2019, calling for the formation of an independent government, an end to corruption, social justice and respect for public freedoms.

On 25 November 2019, 19-year-old university student and civil society activist Zahra Ali Al-Qarralucy was thrown in front of her house after she was severely tortured by an unknown group who kidnapped her for 8 to 10 hours. She was electrocuted and stabbed with a knife, and had fractures in her jaw and skull, leading to her death in the hospital the next day. Al-Qarralucy, along with her father Ali Salman, a peaceful demonstrator, distributed food and drink to protesters in Tahrir Square, in the capital Baghdad, and this would appear to be the only motive for her murder.

Source: Gulf Centre for Human Rights

“My daughter was killed because of her support for her fellow protesters,” Salman told Shafaq News, adding that neither he nor any of his family members, including his daughter, had received threats in advance.