he portrait of the fisted hand of a young Iraqi activist on top of the Iraq flag. His forearm has a tattoo depicting the Freedom Monument in Tahreer Square. Freedom Monument is in the center of Baghdad, is the city's most loved monument. The monument, designed and opened in 1961, symbolizes the people's strife against tyranny and love of freedom. Tahreer Square is in Baghdad's heart and each protest kicked off from there. In October 2019, Tahreer square was occupied by the protesters for several weeks and became the gathering point for activists, artists, journalists, and others. It was and is to protest against corruption, unemployment, lack of services, foreign intervention, and a democratic system. According to Iraqi sources, over 1000 protesters and activists were killed during and after the protests. These days, the protests are still going on on a much smaller scale, mainly in Baghdad and the southern part of Iraq.
In October 2019, thousands of Iraqi youth went on the street to protest against corruption, unemployment, and poverty. It was called Thawra Tishreen- October Revolution- a romanticized title that Iraqis are not unfamiliar with. It happened at least six times in modern Iraqi history. These protests that had shaken Baghdad and other major cities, mainly in the south of Iraq, weren't tolerated by the same people they were protesting against, the Iranian-backed Shiite militias. It left at least 600 protesters, activists, journalists and lawyers killed, either shot dead during the protests or assassinated afterward. Thawra Tishreen failed, but its dreams were carried by many young people in the country of revolutions and counter-revolutions. On the other hand, the threat of armed militias is still present in the streets of Baghdad, Basra, or Karbala. The victims' families are in deep grief without any sign of justice for their beloved ones. Iraqi society is long a fractured land. The existing sectarian gap widened by people in power and militiamen. Whoever wants to stand against them would be targeted this time regardless of their sector beliefs. The picture of those protesters killed in October 2019 onward can be seen on the broken walls of the narrow streets of Baghdad's Sadr neighborhood. The graffiti and slogans of Baghdad's Tahreer square are fading away, as the memories of other revolutions. Despite this, the survivors of the Tishreen revolutions and the families of the fallen victims want something to lean on. In this project, I have visited dozens of families who lost at least one family member during and after the 2019 protests. Most of the victims were young educated men and women who dreamed of a better and fairer Iraq. The project portrays a group of these victims through the eyes of their parents, friends, and comrades. Remembering them is the only way to carry their dreams. These photographs are taken in Baghdad, the holy city of Najaf, Karbala and Basra.
My daughter and her husband Hussein were two active members of anti-corruption protests in Basra. She even founded a group supporting women's rights. In 2018 Basra had a water shortage. She was one of the first women to join the anti-government protests in Basra. They appeared on TV and openly criticized men in power, including Iranian-backed militias. Their critique was sharp and straightforward. Soon, they received threatening messages and letters from militiamen. They decided to leave the country. Four months later, they ran out of money and returned financially broken. It was around October, and a new wave of protests shook the country. Without any doubt, they joined the protest from its beginning. On the second day of the protest, they went home by 10 pm. It was the last time they were seen alive. The next day their lifeless bodies were found.A childhood picture of Safaa Al-Saray, the icon of October protests in his brother's house in Baghdad, Iraq. Safaa Al-Saray was a social media blogger who focused on promoting civil and political rights in Iraq and who had participated in anti-corruption demonstrations in 2011, 2013, and 2015. Safaa has become the icon of an uprising. He died for a cause, says his brother showing a photo of him when he was a little boy. On October 28, 2019, Safaa was struck by a tear gas canister shot at him as he participated in demonstrations in Baghdad. He died from his injuries shortly afterward. His pictures can be seen across Baghdad, especially around the neighborhoods that the protesters once occupied. During the uprising, Safaa became highly influential, particularly by filming and documenting police brutality when Iraq's mainstream media was decided to ignore the youths' call for political reform.A portrait of Ihab's mother while listening to his other son telling the story of Ihab's death. Ihab has always been very active during the protests since 2005. Before October 2019, my brother and I used to go to Baghdad to meet other activists to prepare and discuss the biggest national protest. When general Abdel-Wahab al-Saadi was removed from his position, that resulted in a mass protest in Baghdad and elsewhere. We decided to join them. So, we took 2000 people from Karbala and went to Baghdad. Due to security forces' violence, we went back to Karbala after a week. On the 25th of October 2019, we gathered in the Karbala. Soon, a group of masked men appeared. They opened fire on the protesters, targeting protest leaders. In response, my brother called for a more significant protest in Karbala. In spring 2021, an unknown man approached him. He put a gun on his head and intimated him. He was told not to attend any protest whatsoever. On the 9th of May 2021, he was assassinated.Everyone was doing something to support those who were protesting. I was cooking and collecting money for the protesters. But apparently, nothing has changed for the better, but things got worse; it cost hundreds of demonstrators' lives. My son Mohammed was very young; he was still a kid. He was recently engaged. The day he was killed, I heard Mohammad's name a few times. Everybody was talking about him. So, I went out, and there were so many people on the street, where the protesters used to gather. One of his friends walked towards me, weeping. He said Mohammad got killed. He was crying. His friend said that they were right in front of protesters. Suddenly, they saw Iraqi forces coming from every direction, armed to their teethes, carrying any weapons. They opened fire on the crowd. Mohammad got shot in the chest. He was bleeding. No one could stop his bleeding. He got surgery, but it was already too late. He died like this.A group of Shiite women posing for a selfie during the Ashura ceremony in Sadr City, Baghdad. With more than three million Shiaa residents, Sadr City has always been Baghdad's rebellious part. Most of the October 2019 protesters were from Sadr City, protesting corruption, lack of services, and injustice. Unlike previous protests in October 2019, women were playing key roles and were active present. They were supporting as nurses, cooking food, creating art, and protesting on social media. Most of Sadr City's population are people who migrated from Iraq's south in the past seven decades and retained tribal ties there. Sadr city was named after Sadr's family, a respected rebellious Shiite family who fought British colonialism and Saddam Hussain's tyranny. Muqtada Sadr, a controversial cleric, backed the October 2019 protests and asked the government to step down. Ashura is a holly month for Shiite Muslims symbolizes martyrdom, resistance, and being oppressed.A view of Shat Al Arab, a river flowing through the oil-rich city of Basra, south of Iraq. In Basra, the anti-corruption protests started on 1 October 2019, a date which civil activists set on social media. The protest then escalated into calls to overthrow the Iraqi government suppressed by the security forces and Iran-backed militia. Basra is considered one of the wealthiest cities in the region. Still, its inhabitants suffer from power outages, poor infrastructure, lack of potable water, unemployment, and widespread class of drugs mostly imported from neighboring country Iran. More than two years after October 2019, the issues that these young people protested against are still in place. As there is no immediate solution for this country's long-lasting problems, another wave of protests and bloodshed seems inevitable.My daughter joined the protest in 2018 to support her people. She was protesting especially to improve the quality of supplied water in Basra. She became very popular among people for she played a positive role during any gathering. After the US Consulate invited her and some other activists to international women's day, she was labeled a US spy by the Iranian Mehr news agency. After this report, Riham received many threatening messages on social media. After receiving all these threatening messages, she was accused of attempts to destroy Hash Al Shaabi's (the PMF) fame among people. Despite all these, she decided to do live streaming in which she said: who am I to destroy Hashd al-Shaabi? I only demand my people to have a better life, she said. Almost a year later, the gunmen on a motorcycle opened fire on her car in Basra. She was dead. In all of Iraq, we lost our sense of humanity. It became very easy to kill someone or to become a thief because our society is corrupted.A Waii man prays on the grave of Basra activist Raham Shakir in Wadi Al-Salam cemetery in Najaf, Iraq. Wadi Al-Salam is the world's biggest cemetery, with more than five million people buried there. The majority are Shia Muslims. Waii is a man who is paid to pray and read The Quran in the Muslim cemeteries. 19-year-old Raham was a human rights advocate who campaigned against human rights violations in Iraq and served as a prominent figure protesting against the government of Iraq since 2018. She was reportedly receiving death threats since 2018 for organizing women's marches and participating in gathering at the US consulate in Basra. She and other activists were labeled as American spies by Iranian affiliated propaganda media. Almost a year after the October uprising, on 19 August 2020, she was shot dead by unidentified gunmen in Basra, south of Iraq. Her murder showcased serious growing violence against anti-government activists in Iraq.A portrait of Lateef on the wall of his house in Karbala. He was supporting the protests but didn't participate actively since he was a government employee, and it was not good for him to be seen among the protesters. But he secretly always supports his friends and would have loved to join them. On that evening, he delivered some medicines to his client and was caught in the protest near the Iranian consulate in Karbala. As the crowds grew, some protesters went closer to the Iranian consulate, and the security forces opened fire. My son and a few others were shot. He had nothing to do with the incident, and he was killed for no reason. After my beloved son was killed, I decided to participate in anti-government demonstrations. I'm still active. Due to my health condition, I couldn't go out; instead, I prepared food for them and collected donations. After we opened the case in court, we received many threatening messages. I believe there is not much hope for changes in the country.
