Authorities in Iraq must protect the right to peaceful protest and ensure protesters are not subjected to excessive force by police and other forces, Amnesty International will say in a report to be launched on 12 April.
Days of Rage: Protests and Repression in Iraq, highlights how street protests against the lack of basic services, rising prices, unemployment and corruption, and demanding greater civil and political rights, have been violently suppressed by forces under the control of the Iraq government and the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government in the north of the country. Forces deployed against demonstrators have used lived ammunition, killing and injuring protesters and bystanders.
Amnesty International also found disturbing evidence of targeted attacks on political activists, torture and other ill-treatment of people arrested in connection with the protests, and attacks or threats against journalists, media outlets, government critics, academics and students.
Amnesty International will call on Iraqi and Kurdistan Regional authorities to investigate the attacks and killings, torture and other ill-treatment, and hold the perpetrators to account.
Spokespeople in English and Arabic will be available.
To obtain an embargoed copy of the report, or for other information, please contact the Amnesty International Press Office on +44 (0)20 7413 5566 or at press@amnesty.org.
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For more information please call Amnesty International's press office in London, UK, on +44 20 7413 5566 or email: press@amnesty.org International Secretariat, Amnesty International, 1 Easton St., London WC1X 0DW, UK