Cairo Artworks and Media Mondial Awards a Documentary Produced by Shiite 'Popular Mobilization'

Cairo Artworks and Media Mondial has awarded the first prize for a documentary movie produced by the Popular Mobilization Forces (al-hashed al Shaabi), Iraqi Shiite militias fighting battles against the Islamic State (ISIS ) in Iraq, according to Russia Today (RT).

The Shiite Popular Mobilization militias in Iraq have a record of violations that amount to ‘ethnic cleansing’ crimes against the Sunnis in the cities that the Shiite militias restored from ISIS, according to local and international human rights organizations, reported Al-Jazeera.

The media directorate at the popular mobilization said that the “Khalidiya Island” documentary film won the creativity award at the Cairo Artworks and Media Mondial.

It also pointed that the documentary movie highlights the reasons behind establishing the popular mobilization forces.

The Shiite media directorate said that the film reveals the countries involved in assisting Daesh and opening the borders for the entrance of gangs to the Iraqi territories.

Iraqi Sunni parties and human rights organizations and international bodies, including the United Nations, have accused the Popular Mobilization militias of committing several crimes on sectarian grounds against Sunni civilians during the period between 2014 and 2016, including torture, enforced disappearance, killing of civilians and prisoners under torture, and looting towns and cities before burning and blowing up thousands of homes and shops in the Sunni areas, said Al-Jazeera.

In this context, Saudi writer Gamal Khashjgy criticized awarding the Shiite documentary movie the first prize in the Egyptian festival. He also said on twitter ,”The Popular Mobilization documentary movie won the first prize at Cairo Artworks and Media Mondial ….. Our brothers in Egypt, where are you heading to? What is happening is a shame.”

In fact, this would probably intensify the tensions between Cairo and Riyadh that have escalated recently as a result of Egypt’s divergent stances in sensitive issues to Riyadh.

At an earlier, Egypt has voted in favor of a Russian-backed draft resolution in the UN Security Council on Syria, which was opposed by Saudi Arabia.

As a result, Egypt’s stance has angered Egypt’s major Gulf backer which condemned Egypt’s vote and described it with the” painful” stance.

After the voting, the Saudi ambassador to the UN Abdullah al-Mouallimi said, “It was painful that the Senegalese and Malaysian stance was closer to the Arab’s consensus than the Egyptian delegation.”

He also said that he feels pity for these countries that voted for the Russian resolution, stressing that his country will continue backing the Syrian people by all means.

Two days following the voting, Saudi state-owned oil company Aramco announced halting oil product supply to Egypt.
The sudden halt triggered a scornful media campaign against Saudi Arabia, as it was seen as a political decision.

On the other side, Saudi journalists and media men criticized the Egyptian regime and blamed the Kingdom for its financial generosity with the al-Sisi regime.