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On May 23, 2023, the British royal family announced that Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh, was "visiting Iraq at the request of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, in support of the [United Nations] Women, Peace and Security Agenda (WPS), and to continue Her Royal Highness’s work to champion the survivors of conflict related sexual violence." She spent two days in Baghdad, where she met with Iraqi President Abdul Latif Rashid and his wife, Shanaz Ibrahim Ahmed – conveying to them a message of greeting from her brother-in-law, King Charles III – and with Prime Minister Mohammed Shia' Al-Sudani. She also delivered an address at the annual Women's Voices First Conference organized by the British government's Conflict, Stability and Security Fund (CSSF); met with local women's rights organizations; visited a girls' high school; and attended a reception where she met survivors of sexual violence and spoke with Iraqi leaders furthering the WPS agenda.[1]
The above photo shows the duchess with President Rashid.
This trip makes the duchess the first member of the royal family to visit Baghdad. King Charles, then the Prince of Wales, was the first royal to visit Iraq, when he met British military personnel in Basra in 2004.
After the duchess's visit, a Telegram channel supporting Iran-backed Shi'ite militias in Iraq threatened to attack her, calling her a "pig" and "she-devil" and suggesting that she was plotting with Al-Sudani and others, particularly in Iraqi Kurdistan.
On May 26, the Shabab Al-Islam [Youth of Islam] Telegram channel published a post criticizing Al-Sudani after his meeting with the duchess and suggesting that she had secretly colluded with him during her visit. The post, in the Iraqi dialect, reads: "Sudani, you and those behind you are finished. What is going on? Crowds in Erbil, Dohuk, and a bit in Sulaymaniyah, around the Duchess of Edinburgh, as you call her. Sir, for the sake of our country we will not publicize what went on between you and what she requested of you via the British ambassador. Not just you, there were others who met [her] and arranged their affairs. There is sadness in our hearts, o Lord of the Age [a nickname for the Hidden Twelfth Imam]."[2]
The channel escalated its threats on May 29, posting an image of the duchess, with the comment: "Learn your lesson and stay away from Iraq. Or else we will send you Ababil [flocks of birds, which according to the Quran dropped stones on an army that attacked Mecca, also the name of a series of Iranian-made drones], which will crush your head in the middle of Dohuk, the Satan's center." The channel added: "This disfigured one directs the others and stipulates whatever she wants for them."[3]
On May 31, the channel posted an image of the duchess speaking, flanked by the flags of the UK and Iraq, along with a lengthy threatening post: "Try [to have] freedom of movement, you pig, o she-devil of the temple, and we will make you hear the beautiful sounds of our gunfire. Near you. With you. We sit with you. We hear you. We know who enters [your presence]. You will definitely fail. You are gathering together in Iraq, although you know that you have reached the highest level of the goals you set to divide the unity of [Iraq …] But you were surprised. The activity for all the years has been our activity. It has never been the activity of those ones. You have come close to them, true. But we – by His [Allah's] will – seek to come close to our [Hidden] Imam. We come close to him by tearing apart your limbs."[4]
The Iran-backed militias in Iraq have repeatedly threatened British forces in the country.[5] They have also directed threats, accompanied by demonizing language, at other prominent women active in Iraq, particularly U.S. Ambassador Alina L. Romanowski[6] and U.N. Special Representative for Iraq Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert.[7]
[1] Royal.uk, May 23, 2023.
[2] Telegram, May 26, 2023.
[3] Telegram, May 29, 2023.
[4] Telegram, May 31, 2023.
[5] For example, see MEMRI JTTM Reports: Iran-Backed Ashab Al-Kahf Militia Calls On Iraqi PM And Intelligence To End Collaboration With U.S., Israel; Vows To Continue Operations Against U.S., British Forces; Claims "Recent" Attack On MI6 In Iraq, May 16, 2023; and New Telegram Channel Affiliated With Iran-Backed Militias In Iraq Threatens U.S., British Forces In Iraq, Warns Iraqis Not To Collaborate With Them, Threatens U.S. Embassy, May 22, 2023.
[6] See MEMRI JTTM Report: Why Are Iran-Backed Militias Escalating Rhetoric Against U.S. Ambassador To Iraq?, May 30, 2023; and MEMRI Report: U.S. Ambassador In Iraq Sparks Mixed Reactions, From Calls To Expel Her To Awe At Her Ability And Influence, May 30, 2023.
[7] See MEMRI JTTM Reports: Enraged By Results Of Iraqi Elections, Iran-Backed Militias Release Poster Demonizing UN Special Representative To Iraq, October 15, 2021; and Iran-Backed Shi'ite Militias In Iraq Accuse Jordan, UAE, UN Of Tampering With Election Results, Threaten To Kill Electoral Commission Staff, October 18, 2021.
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