BASRA, Iraq (Reuters) - Iraqi police opened fire to disperse dozens of protesters near the southern oil hub of Basra on Sunday as they demonstrated against a shortage of jobs, electricity, water and other basic services, police and local officials said. Police sources said eight protesters were wounded in the shooting while a local mayor said one demonstrator was killed and three were wounded.  “Protesters were only making fair demands for jobs and better basic services but police opened fire…

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Former Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi called for a re-election, saying that a manual recount of the votes in Kirkuk province revealed a discrepency exceeding 50 percent."The percentage of discrepancies revealed by the manual recount in Kirkuk exceeded 50 percent affirming the farce of the elections," tweeted Allawi.Iraq's Independent High Electoral Commission ended manual counting of ballots on Thursday, but they are yet to be released. Smaller Kurdistani parties have accused the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan…

Rushed Proceedings, Lack of Due Process, Disproportionate Sentences (Beirut) – Iraq’s judiciary should change its approach to dealing with detained foreign women and children who are accused of affiliation with the Islamic State (also known as ISIS), Human Rights Watch said today. Since January, Iraq has proceeded with rushed trials against foreigners on charges of illegal entry and membership in or assistance to ISIS without sufficiently taking into account the individual circumstances of each case or guaranteeing suspects a fair trial. Most foreign women…

Iraqi cleric Muqtada al-Sadr called on Friday for a nationwide disarmament campaign and announced his Baghdad stronghold would be first to disarm just two days after an ammunitions cache exploded there and killed 18 people. Sadr, whose political bloc won Iraq’s parliamentary election in May, called on all armed groups to hand in their weapons to the government and declared Baghdad’s Sadr City district would be a weapons-free area later this month. “Everyone must obey the orders and not stand in…

BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Two homemade bombs targeted the headquarters of the Iraqi Communist Party, which is part of an alliance with cleric Moqtada al-Sadr that won Iraq’s parliamentary election, a party official and security sources said. The explosive devices were hurled into the garden of the building in Baghdad on Friday and did not cause any casualties, said Jassim Helfi, a senior member of the party. He described the incident as a message from those opposed to the Sairoon bloc’s calls…

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The United States has contacted members of a political bloc headed by former foe Moqtada al-Sadr after his parliamentary election victory put the Shi’ite cleric in a strong position to influence the formation of a new government, a top aide said. Sadr’s surprise win puts Washington in an awkward position. His Mehdi Army militia staged violent uprisings against U.S. troops after Saddam Hussein was toppled in 2003. If Sadr has a strong say in picking a new…

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi met with Moqtada al-Sadr on Saturday, less than 24 hours after the Shi’ite cleric’s bloc was declared winner of Iraq’s parliamentary election, the clearest sign yet they could work together to form a coalition. “During our meeting, we agreed to work together and with other parties to expedite the process of forming a new Iraqi government,” Abadi said at a joint press conference. “It will be a strong government, capable of providing…

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Populist cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, a long-time adversary of the United States, has all but won Iraq’s parliamentary election, the electoral commission said, in a surprise turn of fortune for the Shi’ite leader. In the first election since Islamic State was defeated in the country, Iran-backed Shi’ite militia chief Hadi al-Amiri’s bloc was in second place, while Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, once seen as the front-runner, trailed in third. The preliminary results were based on a count of…

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Influential Iraqi Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr has called on Kurds to participate in the Iraqi parliamentary election with “strength and determination.” “They have to participate with strength and determination, and the voice of the Kurds must triumph over the injustice and corruption same with the Shias and the Sunnis,” Sadr said in response to a question on his website about the participation of the Kurds and the Sunnis. Kurdish support for the fateful election next week…

A recent episode of the show featured a clip of one candidate vehemently attacking the Popular Mobilisation Forces or Hashed Al Shaabi – an umbrella group of mainly Shiite militias, many backed by Iran. But by the next clip the candidate had about-faced. “The Hashed became legal and constitutional, so of course we are with them,” he said. “Greaaaaaat,” cried out Albasheer, laughing uproariously at the contrasting clips. “When you have to change your skin to fit your interests, you’re going…