Wali Jabbar Nahi Alsaidi
Wali Alsaidi is a media activist and human rights defender. Following the Tishreen protests of October 2019 in Iraq, he established a radio broadcast via internet focused on covering the protests and documenting human rights violations committed against the demonstrators. Consequently, the human rights defender recieved many death threats, attempting to intimidate him into closing the radio station and no longer covering the protests.
Iraqi human rights defenders are subjected to assassination, abduction, arbitrary arrest and enforced disappearance. Iraq is considered an extremely dangerous country for human rights defenders, particularly with the ubiquity of armed groups who pose additional threats to obstruct their work.
Women human rights defenders have been subjected to smear campaigns on social media due to their participation in protests and have been specifically targeted for abduction and killing, particularly in the southern city of Basra.
Despite the appointment of a new government by the Iraqi Parliament in May 2020 in response to the protests, the administration has failed to protect human rights defenders. Several were assassinated in following months. Peaceful demonstrations continue, with human rights defenders putting their lives at risk to demand real change.
