Sadr Warns against Holding Another ‘Immoral’ Festival in Iraq

Sadr supporters are seen at a protest in Baghdad’s Sadr City in April. (AP)
Sadr supporters are seen at a protest in Baghdad’s Sadr City in April. (AP)
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Sadr Warns against Holding Another ‘Immoral’ Festival in Iraq

Sadr supporters are seen at a protest in Baghdad’s Sadr City in April. (AP)
Sadr supporters are seen at a protest in Baghdad’s Sadr City in April. (AP)

For the second time in less than a month, head of the Sadrist movement in Iraq cleric Moqtada al-Sadr described the current government as that of “Bani Abbas”, recalling the historic dispute between the Abbasids and Alawites after the collapse of the Umayyad Caliphate.

Sadr made his remarks in criticism of the Iraq International Festival that was held in Baghdad earlier this week and that had sparked great controversy.

Sadr described the festival as “immoral”, warning “Islamic states against greater openness and hateful liberalism that only serve normalization [with Israel] and spread homosexuality.”

“This was demonstrated at the festival that violated Arab and Islamic societal norms that is being ruled by the Bani Abbas state,” he added.

The current government was formed through an agreement by the pro-Iran Shiite Coordination Framework, rivals of Sadr.

“I am certain that the Iraqi people are of a pure ummah and they reject corruption and perversions. I am certain that should such festivals be held again, the people will collectively reject excessive liberalism, normalization and the LGBT community,” continued Sadr.

The cleric also attacked American Ambassador to Baghdad Alina Romanowski, who had praised the festival and Iraqi artist Shatha Hassoun who had organized it.

He remarked that the festival was directly overseen by Romanowski, whom he said comes from the “nation of homosexuals.”

Sadr’s comments stirred debate in Iraq. Some political observers and activists speculated that his statement may spark street protests should such events be held again, while others discussed the limits of freedoms and going beyond them.

Some observers tied his comments to the challenges in Iraq, such as the dollar crisis and the upcoming provincial council elections.

Advisor to the prime minister for Cultural Affairs Aref al-Saadi issued a clarification over the festival. He said Hassoun had requested that a festival be held to honor Iraqi and Arab artists. Her suggestion was supported by the premiership and Ministry of Culture, but she did not receive any financial support from them because the offer was made through a private company.

The only support offered by the state authorities was preparing the square where the festival was held, he added. “The government was in no way involved in organizing the event.”

The festival went on to honor several Iraqi and Arab artists.

Saadi acknowledged that “several errors had taken place at the event”, such as the attendance of bloggers and fashionistas, whose presence he said was “inappropriate”.

Should the government have “ordered that women be inspected at the entrance of the festival? Should a dress code have been imposed?” he wondered. “Had we done so, we would have been criticized immensely and had the festival been banned, Baghdad would have been compared to Kandahar.”

The festival was initially set to be held on September 29, but the al-Hamdaniya tragedy and the ensuing days of mourning forced organizers to postpone it to October 3, which coincided with National Day.



'No Life Without Water': Settler Attacks Threaten West Bank Communities

The Ein Samiyah spring is a vital water source for Palestinians in the occupied West Bank grappling with chronic shortages. Zain JAAFAR / AFP
The Ein Samiyah spring is a vital water source for Palestinians in the occupied West Bank grappling with chronic shortages. Zain JAAFAR / AFP
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'No Life Without Water': Settler Attacks Threaten West Bank Communities

The Ein Samiyah spring is a vital water source for Palestinians in the occupied West Bank grappling with chronic shortages. Zain JAAFAR / AFP
The Ein Samiyah spring is a vital water source for Palestinians in the occupied West Bank grappling with chronic shortages. Zain JAAFAR / AFP

From his monitoring station on a remote hill in the occupied West Bank, water operator Subhil Olayan keeps watch over a lifeline for Palestinians, the Ein Samiyah spring.

So when Israeli settlers recently attacked the system of wells, pumps and pipelines he oversees, he knew the stakes, AFP reported.

"There is no life without water, of course", he said, following the attack which temporarily cut off the water supply to nearby villages.

The spring, which feeds the pumping station, is the main or backup water source for some 110,000 people, according to the Palestinian company that manages it -- making it one of the most vital in the West Bank, where water is in chronic short supply.

The attack is one of several recent incidents in which settlers have been accused of damaging, diverting or seizing control of Palestinian water sources.

"The settlers came and the first thing they did was break the pipeline. And when the pipeline is broken, we automatically have to stop pumping" water to nearby villages, some of which exclusively rely on the Ein Samiyah spring.

"The water just goes into the dirt, into the ground," Olayan told AFP, adding that workers immediately fixed the damage to resume water supply.

Just two days after the latest attack, Israeli settlers -- some of them armed -- splashed in pools just below the spring, while Olayan monitored water pressure and cameras from a distance.

His software showed normal pressure in the pipes pulling water from the wells and the large pipe carrying water up the hill to his village of Kafr Malik.

But he said maintenance teams dared not venture down to the pumping station out of fear for their safety.

Since the start of the war in Gaza, deadly settler attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank have become commonplace.

Last week, settlers beat a 20-year-old dual US citizen to death in the nearby village of Sinjil, prompting US ambassador Mike Huckabee to urge Israel to "aggressively investigate" the killing.

- Annexation -

Issa Qassis, chairman on the board of the Jerusalem Water Undertaking, which manages the Ein Samiyah spring, said he viewed the attacks as a tool for Israeli land grabs and annexation.

"When you restrict water supply in certain areas, people simply move where water is available", he told AFP at a press conference.

"So in a plan to move people to other lands, water is the best and fastest way", he said.

Since the start of the war in Gaza, several Israeli politicians and officials have become increasingly vocal in support of annexing the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967.

Most prominent among them is Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, himself a settler, who said in November that 2025 would be the year Israel applies its sovereignty over the Palestinian territory.

Qassis accused Israel's government of supporting settler attacks such as the one on Ein Samiyah.

The Israeli army told AFP that soldiers were not aware of the incident in which pipes were damaged, "and therefore were unable to prevent it".

The damage to Ein Samiyah's water facilities was not an isolated incident.

In recent months, settlers in the nearby Jordan Valley took control of the Al-Auja spring by diverting its water from upstream, said Farhan Ghawanmeh, a representative of the Ras Ein Al Auja community.

He said two other springs in the area had also recently been taken over.

- Water rights -

In Dura al-Qaraa, another West Bank village that uses the Ein Samiyah spring as a back-up water source, residents are also concerned about increasingly long droughts and the way Israel regulates their water rights.

"For years now, no one has been planting because the water levels have decreased," said Rafeaa Qasim, a member of the village council, citing lower rainfall causing the land to be "basically abandoned".

Qasim said that though water shortages in the village have existed for 30 years, residents' hands are tied in the face of this challenge.

"We have no options; digging a well is not allowed", despite the presence of local water springs, he said, pointing to a well project that the UN and World Bank rejected due to Israeli law prohibiting drilling in the area.

The lands chosen for drilling sit in the West Bank's Area C, which covers more than 60 percent of the territory and is under full Israeli control.

Israeli NGO B'Tselem reported in 2023 that the legal system led to sharp disparities in water access within the West Bank between Palestinians and Israelis.

Whereas nearly all residents of Israel and Israeli settlements have running water every day, only 36 percent of West Bank Palestinians do, the report said.

In Dura al-Qaraa, Qasim fears for the future.

"Each year, the water decreases and the crisis grows -- it's not getting better, it's getting worse."