By AFPMore by this AuthorKARBALA,The assassination of a writer in the middle of a street in the Shiite holy city of Karbala at the weekend has provoked indignation in Iraqi cultural circles. The city's police force said several fatal shots were fired at Alaa Mashzoub in front of his home on Saturday. "This is killing words -- free, honest and beautiful words," fellow writer Ali Lefta Said told AFP, in reaction to the murder. "COWARD"On Sunday, intellectuals and artists from Karbala, around 100 kilometres (60 miles) south of Baghdad, staged a sit-in. OTHER CASESLate last Summer, the death of four high profile Iraqi women -- including model and social media influencer Tara Fares, whose fatal shooting was caught on camera -- sparked anger.

Source: Daily Nation February 03, 2019 16:52 UTC