“My son did not commit any crime. He is simply a political activist who speaks about people’s rights and their concerns. But the court sentenced him to three years in prison,” the father of Iraqi activist Yassin Majeed told Alhurra.
Majeed was among the young activists who took part in Iraq’s mass “Tishreen” protests that began in October 2019 and continued for about a year. After the demonstrations were suppressed, his family said, he remained active in the years that followed, focusing on civil liberties.
His father said a large force made up of multiple security units surrounded their home around midnight, raided it and arrested Majeed. “After a week in detention, he was immediately sentenced,” he said. “We tried to secure his release through many channels, but without success.”
A court sentenced Majeed in October to three years in prison under Article 226 of Iraq’s Penal Code following a complaint filed by Iraq’s interior minister, who accused him of making a personal insult in a video posted on social media. Although the minister withdrew the complaint on Dec. 5 for “humanitarian reasons,” Majeed has not been released.
“The withdrawal came after the 30-day period designated for appealing the verdict had passed, so he may end up serving the sentence,” said defense lawyer Nawal Fajja in comments to Alhurra. She said the only remaining path is to submit a request to correct the cassation decision — effectively seeking another appeal — accompanied by the minister’s withdrawal, leaving the final decision to the court.
Fajja said the minister dropped the complaint only after the ruling had become final and the Court of Cassation had upheld the sentence.
Under Iraqi law, a final ruling is one that has exhausted all legal avenues of appeal and can be revisited only in very limited circumstances.
Still, Majeed’s father said he has not lost hope and continues to wait for his son to return home.
Wider Pattern of Arrests and Legal Pressure
Majeed’s case comes amid dozens of arrests over the past two years involving bloggers, journalists and activists accused in cases linked to expression and online speech, according to activists and rights monitors.
Mujtaba Ahmed, a civil activist who suffered permanent paralysis in his left foot after being struck by a tear-gas canister in Baghdad’s Tahrir Square during the 2019 protests, said his home was raided in subsequent years. He told Alhurra that armed actors he did not name for security reasons abducted him and later released him after seven hours following efforts by his family.
Ahmed said prosecutions and imprisonment of activists in opinion-related cases have escalated since Iraq’s 2023 provincial council elections.
“We do not object to Iraq’s judiciary, because it is the gateway separating peace from blood,” Ahmed said. “But we do not find a legal article that deals with political charges. All the provisions used to punish activists and journalists are general articles within the amended 1969 Penal Code,” he added.
The Iraqi Observatory for Rights and Freedoms documented about 68 cases of arrest or detention of journalists and activists from January 2023 through December 2024 over posts or opinions, and 142 cases of direct threats and harassment during the same period, including incidents that the group said rose to blackmail or physical threats.
The observatory also recorded roughly 93 legal cases opened under provisions related to insult, incitement to unrest, online defamation or insulting state institutions, as well as 30 incidents involving the closure or restriction of media pages, television programs and digital content platforms.
“Freedom in Iraq is now passing through its worst phase since 2003,” said Adel Al-Khuzaie, director of the Iraqi Observatory for Rights and Freedoms. While the constitution guarantees freedom of expression, he said, the practical reality shows a clear decline, with Penal Code provisions and telecommunications regulations “turned into tools of restriction rather than protection.”
Al-Khuzaie said the observatory recorded a 40% increase in constraints and violations related to freedom of expression over the past two years compared with the years before 2020, including arrests, security summonses and pressure on journalists and media institutions.
He argued that armed militias and groups linked to political parties increasingly use the legal system “as a weapon” to silence dissent rather than resorting to force, saying their financial resources and ties to state institutions allow them to file complaints and jail opponents.
Fears of a Return to “Police State” Tactics
Legal restrictions and prosecutions have raised concerns among activists that Iraq could drift back toward “police state” practices associated with the period before the 2003 U.S.-led invasion.
A letter dated Nov. 26 from the office of the head of Iraq’s Supreme Judicial Council instructed the Public Prosecution to pursue cases against anyone who incites or promotes the overthrow of the political system or undermines its legitimacy through media outlets or online platforms, according to the document referenced by activists and local media.
A copy circulated widely on Dec. 10, triggering domestic and international reactions.
Among the most prominent responses was a post on X by U.S. Rep. Joe Wilson, a Republican, who said the head of the Supreme Judicial Council, Faiq Zaidan, had ordered the prosecution of anyone undermining the legitimacy of what Wilson called Iraq’s political system — “meaning anyone who criticizes Iran’s agents,” he wrote. Wilson added that it was “sad” to see Iraq returning to a police state mentality and urged, “Free Iraq from Iran.”
After the backlash, Iraq’s Judicial Oversight Authority issued a decision on Dec. 11 imposing a reprimand on the acting director of Zaidan’s office for drafting the November letter.
The oversight authority said its investigation found the office director had written the letter using wording and interpretations that conflicted with the head of the oversight authority’s legal opinion and had not presented it to the council’s leader, causing misunderstanding of the judiciary’s position. It said the wording did not align with the council head’s direction.
Al-Khuzaie said issuing a letter of that scale from the Supreme Judicial Council is often interpreted as a signal allowing investigations and prosecutions to expand.
“In the days after the decision, we documented 22 cases of summons and questioning directly linked to digital posts, before procedures slowed after the public outcry that reached the U.S. Congress,” he said, adding that the episode contributed to the order being effectively halted.
Al-Khuzaie argued the reprimand does not erase the initial impact, warning the problem is not only the text but the legal precedent of using broad concepts as a basis for criminalizing political speech.
Issam Al-Feili, a political science professor at Baghdad’s Al-Mustansiriya University, said the swift reprimand and accountability measures — coming within 24 hours of the document’s wider publication — could signal an intent to preserve space for bloggers and journalists to speak freely and criticize.
But Al-Feili warned that parts of Iraq’s political class view many forms of expression as a threat to the system itself, particularly if it could mobilize street protests.
Legal experts and observers told Alhurra that Iraqi authorities often rely on Article 226 of the Penal Code (Law No. 111 of 1969, as amended). The provision allows for penalties of up to seven years in prison, detention or a fine for publicly insulting the parliament, government, courts, armed forces, other official bodies or public authorities, as well as official or semi-official bodies.
Al-Feili also cautioned that some commentators aligned with influential actors may take clips out of context and amplify them through media outlets to silence opponents. He said Iraq needs accountability for those who promote sectarianism, treason accusations and blanket charges of disloyalty.
“If the situation continues as it is,” he said, “it is obvious and inevitable that we will turn into an oppressive police state with dirty tools controlled by certain parties.”
Proposed Laws and the Constitutional Promise
Al-Feili described the space for freedoms as one of Iraq’s most persistent challenges after 2003, arguing political elites have not fully absorbed the concept of liberty. He said decision-makers in both the legislative and executive branches need to adopt new convictions that journalism is a “fourth estate” — while social media has become a powerful “fifth authority” that is difficult to control.
In addition to the Penal Code provisions used in prosecutions, activists cite proposed legislation — including bills on “Freedom of Assembly and Peaceful Protest” and “Cybercrimes” — as potential future threats, even though neither has passed.
Iraq’s parliamentary Human Rights Committee announced in early August that it had withdrawn the draft protest law. Committee head Arshad Al-Salihi said pressing forward with it would conflict with freedom of expression principles by requiring prior approvals for protests and using broad language such as “breaching public order and morals,” which the committee rejected.
Local activists and journalists told Alhurra they fear the “Cybercrimes” bill could further restrict speech through harsher penalties, including imprisonment of up to 10 years and large fines that could target reporters and bloggers investigating corruption and human rights abuses.
Fajja, who said she has voluntarily defended detained Iraqi activists since the Tishreen protests, said the most significant limits on free expression are longstanding legal constraints and regulations that do not align with international rights principles.
“These constraints are legal, represented by applying Penal Code provisions that restrict freedom of expression,” she said, adding that the Iraqi Media and Communications Commission has issued several directives that, in her view, contradict constitutional guarantees and democratic principles.
Ali Al-Abadi, head of the Iraq Center for Human Rights, said the conduct of some government agencies and unilateral decisions undermine democracy by enabling individual decisions to roll back freedoms.
He pointed to Article 38 of Iraq’s constitution, which states that the state guarantees — in a manner that does not violate public order and morals — freedom of expression by all means, freedom of the press, printing, advertising, media and publication, and freedom of assembly and peaceful protest, to be regulated by law.
“The decisions taken recently — especially the decision issued by the Supreme Judicial Council, the subsequent amendment and apology, and other government decisions — all contradict human rights principles,” Al-Abadi told Alhurra. He called on the new parliament and the expected government to ensure any government program includes respect for freedom of opinion and expression and strengthens democratic norms.
