Reham Yacoub also known as Riham Yaqoob (; 1991 – 19 August 2020) was an Iraqi human rights

advocate An advocate is a professional in the field of law. List of country legal systems, Different countries and legal systems use the term with somewhat differing meanings. The broad equivalent in many English law–based jurisdictions could be a ba ...

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 government of Iraq is defined under the current Constitution of Iraq, Constitution, approved in 2005, as a Democracy in Iraq, democratic, Parliamentary system, parliamentary republic with Islam as the official state religion. The government i ...

during the Tishreeni 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, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

Basra Basra () is a port city in Iraq, southern Iraq. It is the capital of the eponymous Basra Governorate, as well as the List of largest cities of Iraq, third largest city in Iraq overall, behind Baghdad and Mosul. Located near the Iran–Iraq bor ...

. 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 Media Network (AJMN; , ) is a private-media conglomerate headquartered in Wadi Al Sail, Doha, funded in part by the government of Qatar. The network's flagship channels include Al Jazeera Arabic and Al Jazeera English, which pro ...

'', 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 the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

Assistance Mission for Iraq and

Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert Jeanine Antoinette Hennis-Plasschaert (born 7 April 1973) is a Dutch politician and diplomat who has been serving as United Nations Special Coordinator for Lebanon since May 2024. She is a member of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy ( ...

, 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 human rights activists Place of birth missing Assassinated activists Assassinations in Iraq 21st-century Iraqi women Iraqi women activists 21st-century Iraqi physicians

Assassination

Reactions

See also

References