On the last day of January, the Iraqi people’s anti-Iranian regime uprising escalated in places like Baghdad, Nasiriyah, Dhi Qar province, Kut, Kirkuk, and Najaf. Protesters in Baghdad’s Tahrir Square were seen chanting “Iran, out, out!” to demand an end to the corrupt groups linked to the Iranian regime. While those in Al Wathba and Al Khilani squares reported that the oppressive security forces of the Iraqi government and the Iranian-backed militias were using live ammunition against demonstrators. Sky News reported…

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Populist Iraqi cleric Moqtada al-Sadr urged his followers on Sunday to help security forces clear roads blocked during months of sit-in protests, calling for a return to normal life after the designation of a new prime minister. adr, who had alternately sided with the anti-government protesters and the Iran-backed political groups they reject, urged his unarmed supporters known as “blue hats” to work with authorities to ensure schools and businesses can operate normally again. Protests broke out…

BAGHDAD (AP) — Anti-government demonstrators on Sunday rejected Iraq’s new prime minister-designate following his nomination by rival government factions, compounding the challenges he’ll have to surmount in order to resolve months of civil unrest. Meanwhile, new divisions emerged among protesters and supporters of a maverick and often inscrutable Shiite cleric, who initially threw his weight behind the uprising but now is re-positioning himself toward the political establishment, after elites selected a candidate for prime minister that he endorsed. On Sunday,…

Furious anti-government youth dug in their heels in Iraq's capital and south on Sunday, rejecting the previous evening's nomination of Mohammad Allawi as premier after months of demonstrations and political paralysis. Allawi was named prime minister-designate after a hard-won consensus among Iraq's rival parties, who had struggled to agree on a candidate since outgoing premier Adel Abdel Mahdi resigned under growing street pressure two months ago. Mass rallies have rocked Baghdad and the mainly-Shiite south since October, with protesters demanding…

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - New Prime Minister Mohammed Tawfiq Allawi appealed to downtrodden Iraqis for their support on Saturday hours after his appointment by President Barham Salih, but protesters were already rejecting the head of government as a stooge of the political elite. In Baghdad and southern cities, demonstrators who have camped out for months demanding the removal of Iraq’s ruling class - and had succeeded in toppling the outgoing prime minister - chanted “we reject Allawi” and held posters of…

BAGHDAD - Iraq’s most powerful religious figure Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani reiterated Friday his condemnation of the use of force against anti-government protesters as the mass movement enters a critical juncture and political blocs tussle over naming a new premier. Meanwhile, influential and radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr called for his followers to return to the street, one week after he withdrew support for anti-government demonstrators camped out in Baghdad’s Tahrir Square. The move comes one day before a deadline set…

(Beirut) – Iraqi authorities ramped up violent tactics to quash ongoing protests across Baghdad and southern Iraq between January 25 and 27, 2020, Human Rights Watch said today. Security forces set fire to protesters’ tents, fired live ammunition, and detained protesters in Baghdad, Basra, and Nasriya. Human Rights Watch was unable to determine the extent of casualties or numbers detained. “The burning of protester tents in city squares looks like a coordinated effort by Iraqi authorities to force peaceful protesters from public…

GENEVA - A U.N. report says Islamic State militants in Iraq are often not getting fair trials and the judicial processes in the country are not up to international standards.  The report, jointly published by the U.N. Assistance Mission for Iraq and the U.N. Human Rights Office, is based on hundreds of trials monitored between May 2018 and October 2019.  The report says those responsible for widespread atrocities in Iraq must be held accountable.  At the same time, it says it…

The embassies of 16 countries, including the US, on Monday condemned Iraq's use of force against protesters. The missions urged the government to guarantee “credible investigations and accountability” into the strife that has killed hundreds of people. The other countries were Britain Canada, Croatia, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, Spain and Sweden. More than 600 people have been killed in Iraq's anti-government protests that started in October, the Independent High Commission for Human…

Two Iraqis were killed and dozens wounded in protest-related violence on Tuesday, as authorities suspended a television station which has broadcast intensive coverage of the months-long movement demanding regime change. The youth-led campaign has pressed on despite violence that has killed more than 480 people, a vast majority of them protesters, since rallies erupted in Baghdad and Shiite-majority southern Iraq on October 1. Demanding snap elections, an independent prime minister and accountability for long-standing corruption and bloodshed, youths have occupied…