Reham Yacoub also known as Riham Yaqoob ( ar, رهام يعقوب عزام) (1991 – 19 August 2020) was an Iraqi human rights advocate and doctor by profession who predominantly campaigned against human rights violations in Iraq and also served as a prominent figure protesting against the

Government of Iraq The federal government of Iraq is defined under the current Constitution, approved in 2005, as an Islamic, democratic, federal parliamentary republic. The federal government is composed of the executive, legislative, and judicial branches, ...

during the Iraq protests since 2018. She also raised her voice and concern regarding youth employment, infrastructure and access to electricity. She was reportedly receiving death threats since 2018 for organising women's marches and ever since participating in the training courses supervised by the United States consulate in Basra.

Assassination

On 19 August 2020, she was shot dead by unidentified gunmen along the Al Tijari Street in the southern city of

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

Basra Basra ( ar, ٱلْبَصْرَة, al-Baṣrah) is an Iraqi city located on the Shatt al-Arab. It had an estimated population of 1.4 million in 2018. Basra is also Iraq's main port, although it does not have deep water access, which is han ...

. Three others were said to have been injured when the gunmen on a motorcycle opened fire on their car while travelling, with the victim Reham Yacoub inside. According to ''

Al Jazeera Al Jazeera ( ar, الجزيرة, translit-std=DIN, translit=al-jazīrah, , "The Island") is a state-owned Arabic-language international radio and TV broadcaster of Qatar. It is based in Doha and operated by the media conglomerate Al Jazee ...

'', the three others injured were all women, and one of them later also died from her injuries. Her murder showcased a serious major crackdown and growing violence against anti-government activists and protesters in Iraq. She was the second prominent activist from Basra to be assassinated after Tahseen Osama Al-Shahmani and was the third targeted attack by gunmen against anti-governmental activists in a week in Iraq. New waves of protests in Basra were staged by protesters in the wake of the murder of Reham.

Reactions

The

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmonizi ...

Assistance Mission for Iraq and

Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert Jeanine Antoinette Hennis-Plasschaert (born 7 April 1973) is a Dutch politician and diplomat serving as Special Representative of the Secretary-General for the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq since 1 November 2018. She is a member of t ...

, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Iraq, condemned and denounced the killing of the activist in an official statement. The UN envoy added that, "the full force of the law must be applied to find, apprehend and hold the perpetrators accountable, and to put an end to this cycle of violence."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yacoub, Reham 1991 births 2020 deaths Iraqi activists Iraqi human rights activists Place of birth missing Assassinated activists Assassinations in Iraq

Assassination

Reactions

See also

References