ICEM Condemns Killings Within Iraq’s Oil Industry

Two recent and separate attacks by lawless militia groupings in Iraq have incensed the ICEM, the Global Union Federation for the energy sector. Both attacks, one random, on 16 January, in which a dedicated trade unionist was slain, the other, on 11 January, a targeted slaying of oil engineers in route to a union’s press conference, “reflect the failures of both the occupation forces and of the al-Maliki government,” according to ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda.

The ICEM was appalled to learn of the death of Mohammed Hameed, a dedicated trade union organiser of the Federation of Workers’ Councils and Unions in Iraq (FWCUI). He was among a group of 15 civilians who were randomly gunned down in an open marketplace in southern Baghdad near his home. Hameed had been out on a walk when he was caught in a hail of gunfire. [More]