The Iraqi Observatory for Human Rights declared that Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi must interfere to release 16 activists in the province of Karbala who were arrested last week as a result of their demonstrations to claim better electricity service.
A force in Karbala carried out "random" arrests according to activists last Wednesday when hundreds of residents of the province protested the deterioration of electricity service near the local government building. They did not cease the arrests till this point but carried out another round of arrests the next day, one of these was the house of one of the activists.
The Iraqi Observatory for Human Rights expressed " 16 activists were arrested in Karbala demonstrations five days ago in the province of Karbala without the existence of any judicial arrest warrants or charges against them, and this is contrary to the Code of Criminal Procedure No. (23) of 1971, so the Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Al-Badi and the governor of Karbala Aqil Turaihi must work on the release of detainees".
According to activists and lawyers who volunteered to defend the detainees, the security authorities in Karbala did not present them to the investigating judge until four days later to their arrest in violation of the Criminal Procedure Law No. 23 of 1971, which requires the detention authorities to present the detainees before the investigating judge within 24 hours.
Alaa Mashzoub, the brother of the detainee Qassem Mashzoub in an interview with the Iraqi Observatory for Human Rights said "His brother (53) was arrested at 4:00 am on Thursday from his home in the province of Karbala, and the arrest was carried out without any judicial order,"
"My brother was not interrogated until Sunday, despite the presence of an officer in the anti-criminal prison where he was arrested. Even after the judge reached him on Sunday, he postponed his case until Tuesday due to the presence of no evidence of any charges of security destabilization or encroachment on a property".
One of the 16 detainees, a 16-year-old boy was arrested last Wednesday during the demonstrations, and among the detainees were 6 college students who were on their final exams.
According to information from the Iraqi Observatory for Human Rights, the detainees were distributed at prisons of convictions, criminality and juveniles, where there are 10 detainees with convictions and 6 in crime and one in juveniles.
Three demonstrators who were involved in the demonstrations last Wednesday during an interview with the Iraqi Observatory for Human Rights said that "the arrests were conducted randomly near the local government building and the governor Aqil Turaihi home where demonstrations have reached him, the arrests were for intimidation purposes to the rest of the protesters.
"The next day, after the arrest of Qasim Mashzoub from his house, dozens of activists were forced to leave their houses and go to other places because they were afraid of getting arrested, while authorities are still looking for two activists who managed to escape from their arrest campaigns".
The Iraqi Observatory for Human Rights expressed that the arrests carried out by Karbala authorities without a judicial order violate the law and encroach human rights, and are considered acts of terrorizing aimed at prevention of protesters from going out in new demonstrations and demanding their rights.
The Observatory also said that "Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi's reaction should not breach the Iraqi laws and abide for the dignity of an Iraqi man and hold those who issued arrest warrants to the demonstrators without complying with the Iraqi law, for the prohibition of repeating such acts in other times and places.
