Iraqi cleric Sadr calls off protests after worst Baghdad violence in years
Baghdad, Iraq Reuters Powerful cleric Muqtada al-Sadr ordered his followers to end their protests in central Baghdad on Tuesday, easing a confrontation which led to the deadliest violence in the Iraqi capital in years. Apologising to Iraqis after 22 people were killed in clashes between an armed group loyal to him and rival Shi’ite Muslim […]
Despite public anger, no progress in Iraq political deadlock
Baghdad, Iraq AP Iraq’s top judicial body said Sunday it doesn’t have the authority to dissolve the country’s parliament, days after an influential Shi’ite cleric gave it one week to dismiss the legislature so that new elections can be held. The decision by the Supreme Judicial Council is likely to increase tensions between followers of […]
Iraqi cleric calls for dissolution of parliament, early vote
Baghdad, Iraq AP Influential Shi’ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr told followers Wednesday to continue their sit-in inside Iraq’s government zone, and called for the dissolution of parliament and early elections, signaling a deepening power struggle with his rivals. Speaking for the first time since thousands of his followers stormed the parliament building in Baghdad on Saturday, […]
Sadr’s followers set up for long sit-in at Iraq parliament
Baghdad, Iraq Reuters Supporters of Iraqi populist leader Moqtada al-Sadr erected tents and prepared for an open-ended sit-in at Iraq’s parliament on Sunday, in a move that could prolong political deadlock or plunge the country into fresh violence. Thousands of the Shi’ite Muslim cleric’s loyalists stormed into the fortified Green Zone in Baghdad on Saturday, […]
Iraq’s parliamentary vote marred by boycott, voter apathy
Baghdad, Iraq AP Iraqis voted Sunday in parliamentary elections held months ahead of schedule as a concession to a youth-led popular uprising against corruption and mismanagement. But the voting was marked by widespread apathy and a boycott by many of the young activists who thronged the streets of Baghdad and Iraq’s southern provinces in late […]