HUNT FOR NEW IRAQI LEADER IS LAUNCHED
▶ Arrest warrant issued for general over killing of protesters last week
Iraq’s parliament began the search for a new prime minister to replace Adel Abdul Mahdi yesterday as the judiciary issued an arrest warrant against a general over the deaths of dozens of protesters last week.
Parliament speaker Mohamed Al Halbousi said constitutional procedures had been set in motion to elect a new prime minister after the house accepted Mr Abdul Mahdi’s resignation.
“I ask the esteemed parliament to fulfil the procedures for the appointment of a new prime minister and Cabinet.
We wish for a prosperous Iraq,” Mr Al Halbousi said.
Mr Abdul Mahdi’s resignation came at the end of one of the bloodiest weeks in two months of protests demanding the wholesale removal of Iraq’s ruling elite, accused of corruption and a failing to deliver basic services despite the country’s oil wealth.
The protest movement that began on October 1 has turned anti-Iranian, especially after security officials from Tehran visited Baghdad and instructed Iraqi officials on how to crack down on the demonstrators.
Gen Jamil Al Shammari yesterday became the first high-ranking officer to face legal action over the brutal suppression of the protests, which has claimed more than 400 lives and left thousands wounded.
The Higher Judiciary Council said magistrates in the southern Dhi Qar province had issued a warrant for Gen Al Shammari over the deaths of dozens of protesters in Nasiriyah, the provincial capital, last week, and barred him from leaving the country.
A statement released by the council, which oversees Iraq’s judicial system and is independent of the justice ministry, said Gen Al Shammari “issued the orders that caused the killing of demonstrators in the province”. Mr Abdul Mahdi announced his resignation on Friday after the killings, which took place in his home town.
President Barham Salih will now begin discussions with political blocs to find a candidate who can secure the backing of a majority of MPs to form a new government.
Although the Iraqi parliament comprises various blocs, it is significantly influenced by the Iran-backed Hashed Al Shaabi, or Popular Mobilisation Units, a group of militias that command the loyalty of many MPs.
In the interim, Mr Abdul Mahdi will stay on as head of a caretaker government. He said in a short note yesterday that “Iraq in its current circumstances cannot bear a caretaker government” for long.
The French-educated economist has supported the Iranbacked crackdown on the uprising but came under pressure to quit after Ayatollah Ali Al Sistani, the country’s most prominent Shiite cleric, called on parliament to consider installing a new government in his sermon on Friday.
Mr Abdul Mahdi sent additional security forces to Nasiriyah and other southern protest hubs on Thursday after the burning of the Iranian consulate in Najaf, where Mr Al Sistani lives.
On Saturday, Shiite demonstrators set fire to the entrance of the Hakim shrine in the city, cheering and filming on their mobile phones as the doorway was set ablaze.
The uprising pits mostly young, downtrodden Shiites against a Shiite-dominated government backed by Iran and accused of squandering Iraq’s oil wealth while infrastructure and living standards deteriorated along with the rule of law.
Anger has also been directed at traditional religious authorities, whom many protesters view as part of an out-of-touch ruling elite along with Shiite merchants and politicians who have formed an alliance since the US-led invasion removed Saddam Hussein in 2003.
While the Iranian-born Mr Al Sistani has rarely been criticised directly, other, younger clerics have voiced disappointment with the elderly cleric for not siding with the uprising.
Security forces and Iranbacked militias have not hesitated to use live ammunition against mostly nonviolent protesters for the past two months.
Besides the dead, as many as 15,000 people are estimated to have been wounded.
One demonstrator, an unemployed man in his early twenties, said Mr Abdul Mahdi’s resignation would not stop protesters from taking to the streets.
“We have known only repression for the last 16 years,” he told The National from Baghdad.
The crackdown on the protests has drawn international condemnation. Yesterday, Pope Francis voiced concern about the increase in deaths.
“It is with pain that I have learnt of the protest demonstrations of the past days that were met with a harsh response, causing tens of victims,” he said during his weekly blessing.
Gen Al Shammari is the first high-ranking officer to face legal action over the protests and is barred from leaving the country