SULAIMANI (ESTA) — An Iraqi journalist was shot by a gunman in Diwaniyah city early on Monday, according to Al Forat News.
Surveillance cameras showed a gunman shooting Al Forat News channel reporter Ahmed Hassan in his vehicle outside his house as he was returning home, the news outlet reported.
Hassan was shot “in the head”, Al Forat said.
The Iraqi Observatory for Press Freedom called on the authorities to find the perpetrator and bring him to justice.
The shooting came two days after Ihab al-Wazni, a leading Iraqi anti-government activist, was killed outside his home by men on motorbikes.
Wazni was a vocal opponent of corruption, the stranglehold of Iran-linked armed groups and Iran’s influence in Iraq.
Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi ordered the ministry of interior agencies to quickly find the perpetrators during a Council of Ministers’ meeting on Sunday.
Protests broke out in Karbala, Nasiriyah and Diwaniyah in southern Iraq in reaction to his killing, as people called for an end to the bloodshed and to rampant corruption, according to AFP.
Anadolu Agency cited eyewitnesses as saying that hundreds of local residents took to streets in Karbala to condemn the killing of the activist.
Around 30 activists have died in targeted killings and dozens of others abducted, some detained briefly, since October 2019, AFP reported.
