The father of a missing Iraqi anti-government activist who waged a public campaign , trying to bring to account , a militia suspected of abducting him has been shot dead.
Jasb Hattab Aboud died of a gunshot wound to the head at 6pm (15:00 GMT) on Wednesday in the southern city of Amara, said Ali al-Bayati, a spokesman for the semi-official Independent Human Rights Commission.
Local media outlets quoted security sources as saying unidentified men on a motorcycle attacked Aboud with automatic weapons, killing him on the spot.
A security official, who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations, confirmed the killing and said preliminary investigations were under way. Iraqi authorities have not identified the perpetrators.
Aboud was uncommonly vocal in his search for his son Ali Jasb, a lawyer who was one of a number of activists who vanished at the height of Iraq’s mass anti-government demonstrations in October 2019. Aboud publicly accused a powerful Iran-backed militia of kidnapping him, and even took the dangerous step of seeking to take its leader to court.
Other families of missing activists were more reserved, often fearing reprisal if they spoke out.
The Missan Police Directorate said late on Wednesday it had arrested Aboud’s killer and that he was now in the custody of security forces, without giving further details.
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