19 June 2021; MEMO: Unidentified gunmen on Friday assassinated Iraqi captain Muhammad Al-Shamousi, who was in charge of fighting corruption in the Maysan governorate, south of the country.
Anadolu Agency quoted a Maysan police officer stating: "The captain in charge of executing arrest warrants against those accused of corruption was shot dead by unknown gunmen in the city of Al-Amarah, the capital of the province."
The source explained that Al-Shamousi was in charge of a preliminary investigation of defendants before referring them to the court to complete the investigations and sentence the perpetrators.
The Iraqi government has not yet commented on Al-Shamousi's assassination.
From time to time, the Iraqi authorities issue arrest warrants against current and former officials on corruption charges. The latest of which was on Thursday, when the Commission of Integrity (COI) announced the arrests of 15 government employees, including a company executive director in the Kirkuk governorate.
In August 2020, Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi established a special committee to investigate major corruption cases and assigned it to coordinate with the governorates to arrest the accused.
Since October 2019, the fight against corruption has been at the top of the list of demands of protesters in Iraq, one of the most corrupt countries in the world.
