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Iraq PM Launches Anti-Corruption Battle by Warning His Brother

Mustafa al-Kadhimi in parliament for vote of confidence on May 6, 2020 [Handout/ Parliament of Iraq/Reuters]
Mustafa al-Kadhimi in parliament for vote of confidence on May 6, 2020 [Handout/ Parliament of Iraq/Reuters]
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Iraq PM Launches Anti-Corruption Battle by Warning His Brother

Mustafa al-Kadhimi in parliament for vote of confidence on May 6, 2020 [Handout/ Parliament of Iraq/Reuters]
Mustafa al-Kadhimi in parliament for vote of confidence on May 6, 2020 [Handout/ Parliament of Iraq/Reuters]

The new Iraqi Prime Minister, Mustafa al-Kadhimi, launched on Sunday his battle against corruption by warning his brother from the consequences of mediating or acting on his behalf.

The premiership’s information service broadcast a video of Kadhimi during a visit to the Public Pensions Department speaking on the phone with his eldest brother, warning him from mediating on his behalf.

The PM said if such behavior happens, it would be equivalent to identity theft that is punishable by law.

Kadhimi’s presence at the Department also secured the release of salaries of around three million Iraqi pensioners.

The PM’s keenness to fight corruption was preceded by other similar moves, when he ordered the release of demonstrators arrested during the mass protests that erupted in October last year.

The Prime Minister also ordered to reinstate a top general dismissed by former Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi in September.

“We ordered the return of the hero brother, First Lieutenant General Abdel-Wahab Al-Saadi, and to promote him as the head of the Anti-Terrorism Agency,” he said.

As Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, Kadhimi said all security services have been ordered to respect human rights.

Amid unprecedented differences between groups supporting the October demonstrations, protests were held in Baghdad and other cities in central and southern Iraq against the new government, shortly after Kadhimi announced the formation of a supreme legal committee to investigate the events that took place starting October 1, 2019.

Sunday’s protests raised questions regarding their timing.

Several sources warned from the “agendas” of some political parties and forces that seek to harm the PM’s term by renewing protests.

A former candidate for the Iraqi premiership, Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, told Asharq Al-Awsat that Kadhimi proved to have self-confidence, mainly when he ordered the return of Saadi.

“This is considered one of the most important decisions taken by the PM so far,” he said.

MP of Iraqi Forces Alliance Abdullah al-Kharbit told Asharq Al-Awsat that most difficulties that Kadhimi would face in the future are “internal.”

“He has a very difficult mission due to accumulated problems,” Kharbit said.

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Italy’s Foreign Minister Heads to Syria to Encourage Post-Assad Transition

Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani speaks to the media a he arrives for a meeting at Rome’s Villa Madama, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025 on the situation in Syria after the collapse of the Assad regime. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini (Andrew Medichini/AP POOL)
Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani speaks to the media a he arrives for a meeting at Rome’s Villa Madama, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025 on the situation in Syria after the collapse of the Assad regime. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini (Andrew Medichini/AP POOL)
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Italy’s Foreign Minister Heads to Syria to Encourage Post-Assad Transition

Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani speaks to the media a he arrives for a meeting at Rome’s Villa Madama, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025 on the situation in Syria after the collapse of the Assad regime. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini (Andrew Medichini/AP POOL)
Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani speaks to the media a he arrives for a meeting at Rome’s Villa Madama, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025 on the situation in Syria after the collapse of the Assad regime. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini (Andrew Medichini/AP POOL)

Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said he would travel to Syria on Friday to encourage the country's transition following the ouster of President Bashar Assad by insurgents, and appealed on Europe to review its sanctions on Damascus now that the political situation has changed.
Tajani presided over a meeting in Rome on Thursday of foreign ministry officials from five countries, Britain, France, Germany, Italy and the United States.
The aim, he said, is to coordinate the various post-Assad initiatives, with Italy prepared to make proposals on private investments in health care for the Syrian population.
Going into the meeting with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and their European counterparts, Tajani said it was critical that all Syrians be recognized with equal rights. It was a reference to concerns about the rights of Christians and other minorities under Syria’s new de facto authorities of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HT.
“The first messages from Damascus have been positive. That’s why I’m going there tomorrow, to encourage this new phase that will help stabilize the international situation,” Tajani said.
Speaking to reporters, he said the European Union should discuss possible changes to its sanctions on Syria. “It’s an issue that should be discussed because Assad isn’t there anymore, it’s a new situation, and I think that the encouraging signals that are arriving should be further encouraged,” he said.
Syria has been under deeply isolating sanctions by the US, the European Union and others for years as a result of Assad’s brutal response to what began as peaceful anti-government protests in 2011 and spiraled into civil war.
HTS led a lightning insurgency that ousted Assad on Dec. 8 and ended his family’s decades-long rule. From 2011 until Assad’s downfall, Syria’s uprising and civil war killed an estimated 500,000 people.
The US has gradually lifted some penalties since Assad departed Syria for protection in Russia. The Biden administration in December decided to drop a $10 million bounty it had offered for the capture of a Syrian opposition leader whose forces led the ouster of Assad last month.
Syria’s new leaders also have been urged to respect the rights of minorities and women. Many Syrian Christians, who made up 10% of the population before Syria’s civil war, either fled the country or supported Assad out of fear of insurgents.