Senior Iraqi Official Arrested on Corruption Charges

Iraq's former deputy minister of electricity Raad al-Haris | Asharq Al-Awsat
Iraq's former deputy minister of electricity Raad al-Haris | Asharq Al-Awsat
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Senior Iraqi Official Arrested on Corruption Charges

Iraq's former deputy minister of electricity Raad al-Haris | Asharq Al-Awsat
Iraq's former deputy minister of electricity Raad al-Haris | Asharq Al-Awsat

Special security forces in Iraq on Tuesday arrested Raad al-Haris, advisor to Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi and the country’s former deputy minister of electricity, over charges linked to corruption and mismanagement.

The arrest is the first of its kind to affect an advisor of Kadhimi.

According to a document released by the Iraqi Supreme Judicial Council, an arrest warrant was issued against Haris based on a complaint filed against him by the permanent investigation committee.

Kadhimi, last September, had ordered the formation of a permanent committee focused on investigating cases of corruption and high-profile crimes.

The committee is headed by human rights officer Ahmed Taha Hashem and includes representatives of the intelligence and national security agencies and the Iraqi Commission of Integrity.

Haris, according to the Supreme Judicial Council, will face trial based on a penal code issued in 1983 which entails fines and jail time that can go up to ten years.

It is worth noting that Haris has worked as Iraq’s deputy minister of electricity for ten years before becoming Kadhimi’s advisor.

For many Iraqis, the Electricity Ministry is one of the most corrupt government bodies in the country.

Since 2003, the ministry has spent over $60 billion but failed to build a sufficient power network that meets the electricity consumption demand of Iraqis.

Given the complex and difficult nature of the electricity file and the astronomical squandering associated with it, the Iraqi parliament decided to form a special committee to probe contracts signed by the ministry.

The head of the probe committee and Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Hassan al-Kaabi, revealed that a preliminary report has been written on the billions of dollars squandered, administrative violations, and major corruption files.

Even though a report has been prepared, the committee is yet to disclose the results of its investigations.

State of Law Coalition lawmaker Aliya Nassif welcomed the arrest, blaming Haris for destroying the country’s electricity sector.

“We have previously released dozens of data that uncover corruption related to this mogul (Haris),” Nassif said.

She also expressed hope towards the probe committee succeeding in restoring all the funds plundered by Haris.



Israeli Army Orders Gaza City Suburb Evacuated, Spurring New Displacement Wave

A Palestinian man points at a damaged building in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip on November 20, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)
A Palestinian man points at a damaged building in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip on November 20, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)
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Israeli Army Orders Gaza City Suburb Evacuated, Spurring New Displacement Wave

A Palestinian man points at a damaged building in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip on November 20, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)
A Palestinian man points at a damaged building in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip on November 20, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)

The Israeli military issued new evacuation orders to residents in areas of an eastern Gaza City suburb, setting off a new wave of displacement on Sunday, and a Gaza hospital director was injured in an Israeli drone attack, Palestinian medics said.
The new orders for the Shejaia suburb posted by the Israeli army spokesperson on X on Saturday night were blamed on Palestinian militants firing rockets from that heavily built-up district in the north of the Gaza Strip.
"For your safety, you must evacuate immediately to the south," the military's post said. The rocket volley on Saturday was claimed by Hamas' armed wing, which said it had targeted an Israeli army base over the border.
Footage circulated on social and Palestinian media, which Reuters could not immediately verify, showed residents leaving Shejaia on donkey carts and rickshaws, with others, including children carrying backpacks, walking.
Families living in the targeted areas began fleeing their homes after nightfall on Saturday and into Sunday's early hours, residents and Palestinian media said - the latest in multiple waves of displacement since the war began 13 months ago.
In central Gaza, health officials said at least 10 Palestinians were killed in Israeli airstrikes on the urban camps of Al-Maghazi and Al-Bureij since Saturday night.
HOSPITAL DIRECTOR WOUNDED BY GUNFIRE
In north Gaza, where Israeli forces have been operating against regrouping Hamas militants since early last month, health officials said an Israeli drone dropped bombs on Kamal Adwan Hospital, injuring its director Hussam Abu Safiya.
"This will not stop us from completing our humanitarian mission and we will continue to do this job at any cost," Abu Safiya said in a video statement circulated by the health ministry on Sunday.
"We are being targeted daily. They targeted me a while ago but this will not deter us...," he said from his hospital bed.
Israeli forces say armed militants use civilian buildings including housing blocks, hospitals and schools for operational cover. Hamas denies this, accusing Israeli forces of indiscriminately targeting populated areas.
Kamal Adwan is one of three hospitals in north Gaza that are barely operational as the health ministry said the Israeli forces have detained and expelled medical staff and prevented emergency medical, food and fuel supplies from reaching them.
In the past few weeks, Israel said it had facilitated the delivery of medical and fuel supplies and the transfer of patients from north Gaza hospitals in collaboration with international agencies such as the World Health Organization.
Residents in three embattled north Gaza towns - Jabalia, Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoun - said Israeli forces had blown up hundreds of houses since renewing operations in an area that Israel said months ago had been cleared of militants.
Palestinians say Israel appears determined to depopulate the area permanently to create a buffer zone along the northern edge of Gaza, an accusation Israel denies.
Israel's campaign in Gaza has killed more than 44,000 people, uprooted nearly all the enclave's 2.3 million population at least once, according to Gaza officials, while reducing wide swathes of the narrow coastal territory to rubble.
The war erupted in response to a cross-border attack by Hamas-led militants on Oct. 7, 2023 in which gunmen killed around 1,200 people and took more than 250 hostages back to Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.