Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi has repeatedly rejected Shiite requests to freeze investigations into Popular Mobilization Forces senior commander Qassem Musleh, who was arrested by the Iraqi authorities a week ago, a senior political source revealed.
Some of the charges facing Musleh include killing activists and financial corruption.
Shiite leadership in the PMF, which is an Iraqi state-sponsored umbrella organization composed of around 40 factions, requested referring Musleh immediately to the judge without an indictment, the source told Asharq Al-Awsat under the condition of anonymity.
“Requests were made using threatening rhetoric,” they said.
But Kadhimi exposed attempts to use Musleh’s arrest as a trigger to destabilize Iraq.
“The past week witnessed events that were dealt with wisely (...) there were those who tried to drag us into the unknown, but we proceeded from the principle of preserving the country’s supreme interest,” warned the prime minister at a cabinet meeting on Tuesday.
Kadhimi openly “rejected succumbing to pressure from influential Shiite parties to shut down the probe into Musleh’s case,” the political source reaffirmed.
“Investigations into Musleh will not stop, and he will not be referred to a judge until he answers to all charges made against him in writing,” military leaders, according to the source, informed political mediators.
“The joint operations command is now investigating allegations against Musleh,” said Kadhimi’s spokesman, Hassan Nazim.
“We are waiting for the results of the probe, after which the judiciary would decide what will happen,” he added.
However, PMF representatives reported that the storming of Baghdad’s Green Zone was one of the organization’s ways of dealing with Musleh’s arrest.
“The break-in reflects political gaps within the PMF, especially after growing rage over it from influential religious authorities in the country,” some said.
