The killing of George Floyd sparks controversy over African-Iraqi rights
Ongoing protests in the United States over the killing of George Floyd have raised awareness among Iraqis about African-Iraqi rights in the country.
BAGHDAD — The police killing of George Floyd and the ensuing protests in the United States are being used by Iraqi activists to raise awareness about the rights of African-Iraqis. At the same time, many Iraqi protesters have drawn parallels to the US movement, criticizing the way the Iraqi authorities have been dealing with Iraqi protests since they began in October 2019.
Online debate has recently focused on the fate of the African-Iraqi minority, which has been deprived of official recognition and political representation in government. The debate has evoked the 2013 assassination in Basra of the most prominent African-Iraqi figure, Jalal Diab. Diab was an African-Iraqi leader who founded the Movement of Free Iraqis (Ansar al-Huriya) in 2007 to protect Iraq's black community, which is estimated at about 400,000.
