“I left my life, my family, my friends, my future for my country and for the souls of the people we lost,” Karim told Arab News from the safety of his Irbil bedsit. Around 600 people were killed as a result of their association with the protest movement — many on the streets during rallies, others targeted on their doorsteps away from the rallies. “I started to protest to end this corrupt political class,” Karim told Arab News. Ahmed Latif Taher, an Iraqi youth forced to flee to the Kurdistan region following pro-Iran militia threats for his role in the protest movement. “We know the government and the militias are the same.”But fighting the pro-Iran militias head-on would prove disastrous, he told Arab News.

Source: The North Africa Journal April 29, 2021 11:45 UTC