![Shiite Muslim cleric Muqtada al-Sadr gives a speech in the central holy shrine city of Najaf, Iraq, Aug. 30, 2022.](/https/www.al-monitor.com/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/2022-12/GettyImages-1242814074.jpg?h=a5ae579a&itok=PCtx76MD)
Mustafa Saadoun is an Iraqi journalist covering human rights and also the founder and director of the Iraqi Observatory for Human Rights. He formerly worked as a reporter for the Iraqi Council of Representatives. On Twitter: @SaadoonMustafa
![Shiite Muslim cleric Muqtada al-Sadr gives a speech in the central holy shrine city of Najaf, Iraq, Aug. 30, 2022.](/https/www.al-monitor.com/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/2022-12/GettyImages-1242814074.jpg?h=a5ae579a&itok=PCtx76MD)
![Iraqi Prime Minister-designate Mohammed Shia al-Sudani (C) arrives at the parliament ahead of a confidence vote on a new government, Baghdad, Iraq, Oct. 27, 2022.](/https/www.al-monitor.com/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/2022-11/GettyImages-1244269540.jpg?h=a5ae579a&itok=dscN_IKt)
![A Kurdish peshmerga fighter affiliated with the Iranian Kurdistan Democratic Party stands guard on top of a building following an Iranian cross-border attack in the town of Koye (Koysinjaq), Iraqi Kurdistan, Oct. 1, 2022.](/https/www.al-monitor.com/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/2022-11/GettyImages-1243647292.jpg?h=a5ae579a&itok=4YsqdWOX)
![Supporters of Iraqi cleric Muqtada al-Sadr continue their sit-in.](/https/www.al-monitor.com/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/2022-08/GettyImages-1242270432.jpg?h=a5ae579a&itok=47BmEe0N)
![AHMAD AL-RUBAYE/AFP via Getty Images](/https/www.al-monitor.com/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/2022-08/GettyImages-1242457391.jpg?h=a5ae579a&itok=9XUYQ_Vs)
![Supporters of the Kurdistan Democratic Party celebrate with the KDP party flags during Iraq's parliamentary election in Erbil, Iraqi Kurdistan, Oct. 10, 2021.](/https/www.al-monitor.com/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/2022-08/GettyImages-1235814076.jpg?h=a5ae579a&itok=3tVuyDMY)
![Supporters of Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr gather outside the Iraqi parliament in the Green Zone in the capital Baghdad, on the seventh day of protests against the nomination of a rival Shiite faction for the position of prime minister in the heavily-guarded Green Zone, on Aug. 5, 2022.](/https/www.al-monitor.com/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/2022-08/GettyImages-1242321289.jpg?h=a5ae579a&itok=seWv1H1G)
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![Flags of Iraq and Iran.](/https/www.al-monitor.com/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/2022-04/PUK%20Media.jpeg?h=a5ae579a&itok=1E5ZtZ4O)
![Iraq politics](/https/www.al-monitor.com/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/2022-03/GettyImages-1193053084.jpg?h=1d34674f&itok=0wJ9_Zml)
![This photograph shows an Ukrainian armoured personnel carrier (APC) BTR-4 destroyed as a result of fight not far from the centre of Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, located some 50 km from Ukrainian-Russian border, on Feb. 28, 2022.](/https/www.al-monitor.com/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/2022-02/GettyImages-1238831985.jpg?h=1d34674f&itok=JDgbeuRG)
![This picture taken on March 15, 2020, shows a drone being used by Iraqi health workers around the Imam Hussein Shrine in the central Iraqi holy shrine city of Karbala.](/https/www.al-monitor.com/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/2022-02/GettyImages-1207220498.jpeg?h=a5ae579a&itok=SRj-3n-X)
Mustafa Saadoun is an Iraqi journalist covering human rights and also the founder and director of the Iraqi Observatory for Human Rights. He formerly worked as a reporter for the Iraqi Council of Representatives. On Twitter: @SaadoonMustafa