![Iranian Quds Force commander Esmail Ghaani speaks during a ceremony on the occasion of the first anniversary of the death of former Quds Force commander Qasem Soleimani, Tehran, Iran, Jan. 1, 2021.](/https/www.al-monitor.com/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/2022-02/GettyImages-1230379305.jpg?h=a5ae579a&itok=0Np-aY3d)
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
![Iranian Quds Force commander Esmail Ghaani speaks during a ceremony on the occasion of the first anniversary of the death of former Quds Force commander Qasem Soleimani, Tehran, Iran, Jan. 1, 2021.](/https/www.al-monitor.com/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/2022-02/GettyImages-1230379305.jpg?h=a5ae579a&itok=0Np-aY3d)
![Iraqi Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr speaks to the press after a meeting with parliament Speaker Salim al-Jabouri, alongside other Sunni parliament members, Najaf, Iraq, April 5, 2015.](/https/www.al-monitor.com/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/2022-02/GettyImages-468659696.jpg?h=219a8c05&itok=uDANpo7i)
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![Supporters of Iraqi Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr celebrate in Baghdad's Tahrir square on Oct. 11, 2021 following the announcement of parliamentary elections' results.](/https/www.al-monitor.com/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/2021-10/GettyImages-1235824421.jpg?h=a5ae579a&itok=jRl91UGf)
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![An Iraqi woman updates her voter registration at the Independent High Electoral Commission Center in the southern Iraqi city of Nasiriyah in the Dhi Qar province on Jan. 12, 2021.](/https/www.al-monitor.com/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/2021-08/GettyImages-1230546012.jpg?h=a5ae579a&itok=XehSPPhP)
![Migrants are seen through a fence as they stand and sit by tents in a camp near the border town of Kapciamiestis, Lithuania, July 18, 2021.](/https/www.al-monitor.com/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/2021-08/GettyImages-1234069210.jpg?h=a5ae579a&itok=GQH7hlzU)
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![Mohammed al-Halbusi (L), newly elected speaker of the Iraqi parliament, delivers a speech Sept. 18, 2018, following a meeting in Basra.](/https/www.al-monitor.com/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/2021-08/GettyImages-1035445482.jpg?h=a5ae579a&itok=6kao33Qr)
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