In 2020 Sajjad al-Iraqi a young protester in Nasiriya was kidnapped. In 2023 two people were sentenced to death in absentia for his murder. Just recently those charges were dropped likely in a political move.
On September 19, 2020, Sajjad al-Iraqi and Basim Falaiah two activists were kidnapped in Nasiriya the capital of Dhi Qar province. Armed men in two pick up trucks took them away. Falaiah was shot and killed. Iraqi wasn’t found until July 2022. The police reportedly were in touch with the kidnappers who were said to be connected to a high ranking government official and a Hashd faction.
This took place during national protests against the government demanding jobs and political reforms. It became such a controversy that Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kazemi sent the Counter Terror Service to look for the young man but to no avail. Iraqi joined hundreds of others that were disappeared and murdered by pro-Iran groups and the government to try to suppress the demonstrations.
It wasn’t until March 2023 that two men were sentenced to death in absentia for the kidnapping and killing of Iraqi. They were some of the few who went to trial for the mass killings but that was only because they were not in custody and faced no consequences.
The elite however were not going to let this stand. In January 2026 the Dhi Qar Criminal Court overturned the conviction of the two men sentenced for Iraqi’s death. It claimed that the witnesses against them recanted their testimonies. Iraqi’s family said that the witnesses were threatened and that the decision was political.
The Shiite parties and the Hashd were responsible for putting down the protests. They shot, kidnapped, wounded and killed their own youth to maintain their power. They blocked the investigations to make sure they were never held responsible. Their vanity is shown by the fact that they reversed the Iraqi case even though the two perpetrators were never even arrested.
SOURCES
Agence France Presse, “Two sentenced to death in Iraq over activist’s abduction,” 3/22/23
Al Alem, “Source: Dhi Qar police are negotiating with the kidnappers of the activist Sajjad al-Iraqi, because it is unable to arrest them,” 9/20/20
Bas News, “Iraqi Activist Found Dead Two Years after Abduction in Dhi Qar,” 7/2/22
- “A Protest Activist Kidnapped in South of Iraq, Another Injured,” 9/20/20
Ghafuri, Lawk, “Iraqi counter-terrorism forces head to Nasiriya to rescue kidnapped activist,” Rudaw, 9/21/20
Al Mada, “Affected armed factions take advantage of the incident of Sayid Dakhil to pit against the government,” 9/24/20
- “A campaign to reveal the fate of those who disappeared from the October uprising,” 6/27/22
- “The family of Sajjad al-Iraqi attributes the decision to overturn the death sentence against his kidnappers to Parisian and tribal pressures,” 1/14/26
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