Suppressing dissent in post-Tishreen Iraq

While legal tools and repressive tactics have been used by Iraq’s political elite to suppress dissent since 2003, these tactics were extended and systematised following the 2019 protests. In particular, it is shown that vague provisions in Iraq’s outdated legal framework have been instrumentalised to silence criticism of the state’s political elite. This has been supported by the country’s security apparatuses and through recourse to ideological discourse. Ad hoc methods for restricting accountability mechanisms have also been pursued as a means of limiting checks and balances. This represents a move away from the use of overt and visible violence to more covert forms of coercion, aimed at improving the political elites’ public image whilst also undermining grassroots activism and preventing the occurrence of mass uprisings in the future.