Angry Protesters in Basra Storm Headquarters of ‘Lukoil’

Iraqi demonstrators cutting the road with burning tires in Basra on Thursday, July 12, 2018. Reuters
Iraqi demonstrators cutting the road with burning tires in Basra on Thursday, July 12, 2018. Reuters
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Angry Protesters in Basra Storm Headquarters of ‘Lukoil’

Iraqi demonstrators cutting the road with burning tires in Basra on Thursday, July 12, 2018. Reuters
Iraqi demonstrators cutting the road with burning tires in Basra on Thursday, July 12, 2018. Reuters

Mass demonstrations that have been ongoing in Basra developed on Thursday into sit-ins and threats to storm public institutions and official departments.

Protesters have been demanding services such as electricity and job opportunities for those unemployed in the province.

The demonstrators, some of whom raised sectarian slogans against workers in the oil fields in Basra, carried out what they have been threatening to do when they stormed the headquarters of Basra’s West Qurna 2 oilfield.

Run by Russian energy giant Lukoil, West Qurna 2, which is one of Iraq’s largest oilfields, currently produces roughly 400,000 barrels of crude oil per day.

Activists on social media circulated pictures of the company's employees in panic and fear.

The workers of the firm packed their belongings, and many of them were evacuated by helicopters while security forces fired live bullets in the air to disperse the demonstrators, causing injuries.

The Iraqi cabinet has formed a government delegation under the leadership of the minister of oil and the membership of the ministers of reconstruction, housing, municipalities, public works, electricity, water resources and transport, the prime minister's advisers, the general secretariat of the cabinet and the crisis cell in order to find urgent solutions to the problems facing the province.

Meanwhile, Oil Minister Jabbar al-Luaibi issued an order to find jobs for 250 of Basra's residents.

“The appointments will be in the oil fields, under the supervision of the District Commissioner of the judiciary,” Luaibi said in a statement.

He added that job opportunities will be provided to the relatives of those killed during the demonstrations in Basra last Sunday.

Luaibi also stressed the importance of not attacking oil installations during the demonstrations because “the economy of the country is based on oil wealth."

He said that since taking office, he has reduced the number of foreign workers by up to 50 percent.



Rights Defenders Denounce US Sanctions on UN Expert on Palestinians

UN Special Rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian territories, Francesca Albanese gives a press conference at the UN City in Copenhagen, Denmark February 5, 2025. Ritzau Scanpix/Ida Marie Odgaard via REUTERS/File Photo
UN Special Rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian territories, Francesca Albanese gives a press conference at the UN City in Copenhagen, Denmark February 5, 2025. Ritzau Scanpix/Ida Marie Odgaard via REUTERS/File Photo
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Rights Defenders Denounce US Sanctions on UN Expert on Palestinians

UN Special Rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian territories, Francesca Albanese gives a press conference at the UN City in Copenhagen, Denmark February 5, 2025. Ritzau Scanpix/Ida Marie Odgaard via REUTERS/File Photo
UN Special Rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian territories, Francesca Albanese gives a press conference at the UN City in Copenhagen, Denmark February 5, 2025. Ritzau Scanpix/Ida Marie Odgaard via REUTERS/File Photo

Human rights defenders rallied on Thursday to support the top UN expert on Palestinian rights, after the United States imposed sanctions on her over what it said was unfair criticism of Israel.

Italian lawyer Francesca Albanese serves as special rapporteur on human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories, one of dozens of experts appointed by the 47-member UN Human Rights Council to report on specific global issues.

She has long criticized Israeli treatment of the Palestinians, and this month published a report accusing over 60 companies, including some US firms, of supporting Israeli settlements in the West Bank and military actions in Gaza.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced on Wednesday Albanese would be added to the US sanctions list for work which had prompted what he described as illegitimate prosecutions of Israelis at the International Criminal Court.

United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk urged Washington to reverse course.

"Even in the face of fierce disagreement, UN Member States should engage substantively and constructively, rather than resort to punitive measures," he said, Reuters reported.

Juerg Lauber, the Swiss permanent representative to the UN who now holds the rotating presidency of the Human Rights Council, said he regretted the sanctions, and called on states to "refrain from any acts of intimidation or reprisal" against the body's experts.

Mariana Katzarova, who serves as the special rapporteur for human rights in Russia, said her concern was that other countries would follow the US lead.

"This is totally unacceptable and opens the gates for any other government to do the same," she told Reuters. "It is an attack on UN system as a whole. Member states must stand up and denounce this."

Russia has rejected Katzarova's mandate and refused to let her enter the country, but it has so far stopped short of publicly adding her to a sanctions list.

Washington has already imposed sanctions against officials at the International Criminal Court, which has issued arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defense minister for suspected war crimes in Gaza. Another court, the International Court of Justice, is hearing a case brought by South Africa that accuses Israel of genocide.

Israel denies that its forces have carried out war crimes or genocide against Palestinians in the war in Gaza, which was precipitated by an attack by Hamas-led fighters in October 2023.

"The United States is working to dismantle the norms and institutions on which survivors of grave abuses rely," said Liz Evenson, international justice director at Human Rights Watch.

The group's former head, Kenneth Roth, called the US sanctions an attempt "to deter prosecution of Israeli war crimes and genocide in Gaza".

The United States, once one of the most active members of the Human Rights Council, has disengaged from it under President Donald Trump, alleging an anti-Israel bias.