Iraqi government steps up fight against corruption

The arrest of six senior officials on corruption charges shows that serious steps are taken in the fight against corruption, amid calls that the government speeds up its reform program.
An Iraqi anti-government demonstrator walks past posters of Iraqi polititians and a US flag in Tahrir Square in the capital Baghdad, on August 1, 2020. - Iraq will hold its next parliamentary elections nearly a year early, the premier announced yesterday, as he seeks to make good on promises he offered when he came to power. Protests began in October, with thousands taking to the streets of Baghdad and across the south. Demonstrators demanded that the political system be dismantled, pointing to endemic corr
An anti-government demonstrator walks past posters of Iraqi polititians and a US flag in Tahrir Square in the capital Baghdad, Iraq, Aug. 1, 2020. - AHMAD AL-RUBAYE/AFP via Getty Images
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Adnan Abu Zeed
@adnanabuzeed

Soon after Iraq's top Shiite cleric denounced the corruption rampant in the country, Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi moved forward in replacing several top officials and ordering an arrest warrant against a number of high-ranking officials.

Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, special representative of the UN secretary-general for Iraq, said Sept. 13 following a meeting with top Shiite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani in Najaf that Sistani wants major corruption files to be opened and those involved held accountable.

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