Parliament is confused about the fate of the October events committee... and activists are desperate

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[size=52]Parliament is confused about the fate of the October events committee... and activists are desperate for a solution[/size]

[size=45]Baghdad / Tamim Al-Hassan[/size]
[size=45]Parties in the House of Representatives intend to bring to justice those responsible for the violent incidents that accompanied the October demonstrations, which took place two years ago, while activists question those efforts.[/size]
[size=45]The parliament voted a few days ago to form a committee on what happened in the 2019 demonstrations, but the shape of the latter has not yet been defined, and there is a difference in opinions among the deputies about the nature of the committee.[/size]
[size=45]Activists expect that the fate of the committee will be similar to the previous ones due to the interference of political parties in its work and the inability of government agencies to implement arrest warrants due to these pressures.[/size]
[size=45]The latest government statements about the work of one of the various investigation committees that were formed after the demonstrations began, confirmed the recall of more than 100 soldiers.[/size]
[size=45]Days after Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kazemi assumed the presidency of the government in 2020, he announced the formation of a fact-finding committee on what happened in October.[/size]
[size=45]According to government statistics, the popular movement during the demonstrations that erupted in October 2019, led to the death of 560 civilians and soldiers.[/size]
[size=45]Fixed or temporary committee?[/size]
[size=45]April Al-Salihi, a representative of a movement that emerged from Tishreen, indicated that “Parliament approved for the first time the formation of a parliamentary committee, not an investigation” about what happened in the demonstrations.[/size]
[size=45]Last week, Parliament voted to form 25 parliamentary committees, including a committee related to the events of the October demonstrations.[/size]
[size=45]Al-Salihi, a representative of the extension movement led by activist Alaa Al-Rikabi, revealed to (Al-Mada) that "all the Tishreen forces in Parliament and the independents pushed to form that committee."[/size]
[size=45]The committee will allow the entry of members from other party forces, but the deputy asserts that "independents will be the biggest weight in it."[/size]
[size=45]So far, the committee's form has not been completed because there are differences between the independents and the rest of the political blocs about the form and nature of the committee's work.[/size]
[size=45]Al-Salihi continues: “Parliament wants a stable committee that includes all kidnappings and assassinations, but we want them to be temporary, especially for the victims and events of October.”[/size]
[size=45]The extension movement, which won 9 seats in parliament, had confirmed in its electoral program that it would seek to reveal what happened in the demonstrations.[/size]
[size=45]And the deputy, who got the highest votes in Dhi Qar, adds: "This committee will start from where the previous committees ended, and it will not be satisfied with compensating the wounded and the families of the martyrs, but rather providing the killers."[/size]
[size=45]previous confessions[/size]
[size=45]And last May, the latest government statements were issued about the investigation committee formed by Al-Kazemi one year before that date, and confirmed that it would soon reveal the names of those responsible for the Tishreen killers.[/size]
[size=45]The committee’s spokesman at the time, Muhammad al-Janabi, said that it had “requested more than 7,000 judicial documents from the competent courts.”[/size]
[size=45]In statements to the official agency, Al-Janabi indicated that "the crimes were heinous and that revealing the perpetrators is only a matter of time."[/size]
[size=45]So far, the results of the committee have not been revealed, and it is among more than 30 committees formed since the era of former Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi.[/size]
[size=45]And formed more than 11 committees to investigate incidents of mass killings of demonstrators, and more than 20 others for individual assassinations, jointly between Parliament and the government.[/size]
[size=45]Some of these committees revealed to (Al-Mada) some of them earlier, especially with regard to the killings in Nasiriyah, Najaf and other cities.[/size]
[size=45]The investigations revealed the interference of politicians and armed groups, in addition to the errors of officers and poor training of the security forces.[/size]
[size=45]And one of the members of that committee said at the time that most of the leaders in the provinces in which killings took place, "we found that they had calls not to throw fire under any circumstances, and to be satisfied with a show of force."[/size]
[size=45]One of the Nasiriyah committees confirmed the responsibility of "5 senior officers" - whose identities were not revealed - while the committee member said at the time that "the greatest responsibility lies with armed parties and groups."[/size]
[size=45]These groups, according to the committee member, “imposed themselves in the protests, and a number of military leaders assured us that they were surprised by the presence of masked men in the demonstrations square and used violence against the protesters.”[/size]
[size=45]A crisis of confidence[/size]
[size=45]Ahmed Al-Washah, one of the activists who was threatened several times, told Al-Mada that "the last parliamentary committee will be doomed like the previous ones, and parties and personalities will intervene to prevent the results from being issued."[/size]
[size=45]The first committee on what happened in the demonstrations was formed days after its launch at the request of former Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi.[/size]
[size=45]At that time, the committee accused dozens of local officers and officials of acts of violence, while it is not known whether they were tried after that or not.[/size]
[size=45]Al-Washah added: "We have no confidence in Parliament or the parties that have now confronted the committee, because they used the name of Tishreen to ascend to Parliament."[/size]
[size=45]Most of the forces that left the demonstrations last year announced a boycott of the elections due to the spread of weapons and the continued kidnappings and killings of activists.[/size]
[size=45]Weshah continues: "We see the solution to be a joint committee between the demonstrators and parliament, although we are desperate to implement the decisions of any committee."[/size]
[size=45]The activist says that the judiciary and the executive agencies will "refrain from arresting or issuing arrest warrants by verdicts of officials of armed factions or military leaders" whom the demonstrators accuse of involvement in the violence.[/size]
[size=45]Al-Washa advises the political forces in Parliament to “go to legislate a law to compensate the families of the victims and bring justice to the wounded, instead of including them with the current law, which does not apply to the demonstrators because it cares about the wounded in the war and military mistakes.”[/size]
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