After al-Sadr supporters sit-in.. The judiciary makes an urgent decision
The Supreme Judicial Council and the Federal Supreme Court of Iraq suspended the work of the SJC and many of the country’s judicial bodies on Wednesday, in response to the sit-in initiated by Sadrist supporters in front of the council.
The Iraqi Judicial Council said in a statement that the decision to suspend work came in protest of “unconstitutional and illegal acts”, referring to the sit-in of Sadrist supporters.
Earlier today, supporters of Al-Sadr movement leader Muqtada Al-Sadr started a new sit-in in front of the headquarters of the Supreme Judicial Council in Baghdad. This is the second sit-in implemented by the movement after the continuous sit-in for weeks at the parliament headquarters, in an attempt to pressure the dissolution of parliament as a way to end the growing political crisis in the country.
The Judicial Council held “the government and the political party behind this sit-in responsible for the consequences of this act”.
The council says al-Sadr’s supporters want to pressure the Federal Supreme Court to issue a decision to dissolve the parliament.
The meeting therefore decided to suspend their work and the courts of the Supreme Judicial Council and the Federal Supreme Court.
Reactions
The Iraqi Bar Association issued a statement confirming its support for the Iraqi judiciary. The statement announced the suspension of the Bar Association’s activities in parallel with the court’s decision.
It called on political parties to “understand the danger of not protecting the judiciary, which will lead us to lose the most important pillars of building a constitutional state”.
Iraqi parliament speaker Mohamed Al-Halbousi said: “We should not be litigated with justice.”
The political crisis in Iraq is rooted in the parliamentary elections held in October last year.
After the elections, in which the Sadrist movement won the largest number of seats, the political forces failed to agree on the shape of the new government and to elect a new president.
Since late July, al-Sadr’s supporters have been staging a sit-in at the Iraqi parliament in the Green Zone in central Baghdad.
Later, supporters of al-Sadr’s main rival, the Coordination Framework, began another sit-in outside the area’s walls to reiterate his position of forming a service government ahead of the snap elections he wants with conditions.
