Muqtada al-Sadr announced the dissolution of his Saving the Homeland coalition with the Sovereign Alliance (al-Siyada) and the Kurdish Democratic Party (KDP)

A member of the Iraqi communist party, al-Nawab wrote poetry against capitalism and imperialism. He had lived widely across the Arab world after leaving Iraq in the 1960s due to persistent political persecution against communists 

The bill is considered to be an attempt to block the growing US pressure on Arab countries to “normalize” relations with Israel under its so-called Abraham Accords

Turkey, a NATO member, began its land and air invasion inside northern Iraq on April 17. It is targeting the forces of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and Syrian YPG militia

Muqtada al-Sadr, who won the maximum number of seats in the October elections, is determined to go against the general practice of a consensus government and wants to form a government based on political majority, claiming that it will establish accountability

Muqtada al-Sadr, whose party emerged as the largest party in last year’s parliamentary elections in Iraq, initially condemned the attack but later issued a statement asking for investigation into Iranian claims of Israeli bases in the country

Protesters also rallied against traders, accusing them of artificially raising prices and overcharging customers for basic food items and other essential commodities

The change in the nature of the US mission in Iraq first announced in July this year has been rejected by the Iraqi militias who are demanding a complete withdrawal of all foreign troops from the country

The fifth elections since the 2003 US-led invasion of the country saw the lowest voter turnout (41%), amid growing discontent with the political system due to widespread corruption, inefficiency and government apathy

The elections are taking place one year ahead of schedule following popular protests that broke out in October 2019 against the failure of successive governments to address the rising economic and political problems in the country

The Iraqi Communist Party, which was part of the leading alliance in the last elections in 2018, announced in July that it will not participate in the upcoming national elections in October due to the lack of a conducive political atmosphere

The report of these deaths comes just days after a UN report accused Iraqi and Kurdistan regional government officials of torture and ill treatment of detainees on a large scale