Iraq’s new prime minister orders protesters released

Iraq’s new prime minister made a significant gesture towards the country’s protest movement yesterday as the country’s judiciary ordered courts to release all protesters held in prison.

On Saturday, Mustafa Al Kadhimi vowed to ensure their release, except those involved in violence, and announced an investigation into anti-government rallies that descended into violence so the families of those protesters killed can be compensated.

The Supreme Judiciary Council said that it had ordered the release of protesters detained since those demonstrations, in line with Mr Kadhimi's call.

The council released detainees based on the constitution, which guarantees the right to protest, “provided that it is not accompanied by an act contrary to the law”.

Mr Al Kadhimi’s Cabinet met in Baghdad to agree new policies to appease protesters who rallied again yesterday in Baghdad’s Tahrir Square despite the coronavirus outbreak.

“We directed the security services to release all detained protesters,” he said.

 “The Cabinet also decided to establish a high-level fact-finding committee to investigate what happened in Iraq since October 1 to provide accountability and to compensate the families of the martyrs.”

Protests erupted in Baghdad and across the country’s south on October 1, when Iraqis took to the streets to decry rampant government corruption, unemployment and poor services. Human rights groups say at least 600 people died in the following three months at the hands of Iraqi security forces who used live rounds and tear gas to disperse the crowds.

He also said that the federal government would release pension payments, and establish a panel of experts to examine how the country could hold free and fair elections, a key demand of the protesters.

The new premier reinstated and promoted Gen Abdulwahab Al Saadi, a popular military figure whose abrupt dismissal by previous premier Adel Abdul Mahdi in September was a catalyst of the first protests.

Modest anti-government rallies resumed in some Iraqi cities yesterday, clashing with security forces and ending months of relative calm just days after Mr Al Kadhimi’s government came to power.

The protests first erupted in Baghdad and Shiite-majority southern cities, but internal splits, a rise in US-Iran tensions and the coronavirus lockdown effectively snuffed out the movement earlier this year, leaving a few desolate protesters camped out in squares across the country.

This week, after Iraq’s parliament approved a new Cabinet headed by Mr Al Kadhami, activists promptly issued calls on social media for new protests, saying the new premier was part of the same reviled political class. Their demands echoed those of previous rallies: early elections under a new voting law and recompense for those killed.