Intel: New Iraqi committee hopes to weed out corruption, ‘exceptional crimes’

Sep 1, 2020

A new investigation committee reporting directly to Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi will manage major corruption cases and “exceptional crimes,” according to Kadhimi in a speech on Sunday.

The announcement follows a string of attacks in August on anti-corruption activists in Basra, which led to the sacking of the city’s police chief and security officials.

“The fugitive weapons, criminal gangs, assassinations and kidnappings are a dagger in the heart of the homeland and in the heart of every Iraqi,” Kadhimi said.

Why it matters:  In Sunday’s address during an Ashura commemoration, the prime minister thanked security forces in the country including the police, army, the Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) and others, but he called on local tribes and militias to reject calls to carry out violence.

“The calls to take up arms will be confronted with the full force of the law,” Kadhimi said. “Only the state has the responsibility for punishing [law-breakers]. The state does not retaliate. The state promotes and delivers justice to victims by punishing the aggressors.”