Iraqi PM warns security forces to stay out of political conflicts

The Iraqi judiciary resumed its work the day after powerful Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr ordered his supporters to withdraw from the Supreme Judicial Council.
A man stands outside the headquarters of the Supreme Judicial Council.
A man stands outside the headquarters of the Supreme Judicial Council, Iraq's highest judicial body, in Baghdad on Aug. 23, 2022. Sadrists, who have already been camping outside parliament for the past three weeks, pitched tents outside the gates of the body's Baghdad headquarters with placards demanding the dissolution of parliament and new elections. - AHMAD AL-RUBAYE/AFP via Getty Images
Shelly Kittleson.jpg
Shelly Kittleson
@shellykittleson

BAGHDAD — Protest tents of rival Shiite political and armed factions remain near the Iraqi parliament and across the Tigris River as threats and a growingly intractable political situation cast a shadow over the country’s leaders and its future.

On Aug. 23, Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi cut short an official trip to Egypt to return to the Iraqi capital after a protest began at the Supreme Judiciary Council.

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