Several thousand people have demonstrated in Baghdad against rampant corruption and the abysmal electricity services that plague Iraq, calling for officials to be held to account.
Iraq’s top Shia cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, called earlier in the day for the prime minister, Haider al-Abadi, to take a tougher stand against corruption and name and shame those impeding reform.
“All of you together to the court, all of you are thieves,” chanted protesters gathered at Tahrir Square and carrying Iraqi flags. “Friday after Friday, we’ll get the corrupt out.”
Protesters also turned out in Nasiriyah, south of Baghdad, to air similar grievances, an AFP journalist said.
Baghdad and other cities have seen weeks of protests against the poor quality of services, especially power cuts that leave Iraqis with only a few hours of electricity per day as temperatures top 50C.
The demonstrators, many of them secular Iraqis, have blamed the services crisis on corruption and incompetence across the political class.
Nabil Jassem, an organiser of the latest protest in Baghdad, said their demands include improving electricity service and finding a new means of combating corruption.
“If anyone thinks this demonstration is targeting a minister or a certain official, I want to correct this and say it is against everyone who was responsible for the energy file from 2003 until now,” Jassem told AFP. He urged Abadi to take direct responsibility for energy affairs.
Abadi took office nearly a year ago promising tough action against corrupt practices that had come to symbolise the tenure of his predecessor, Nuri al-Maliki. Observers argue that while graft may be less open than it once was, the mechanisms of corruption remain in place.
In an attempt to assuage protesters, Abadi has imposed programmed electricity cuts on state institutions and top officials but Sistani said more was needed. Sistani, who is revered by millions of Iraqis, said Abadi had to do more to fight corruption.
“He must be more daring and courageous in his reforms,” Ahmed al-Safi, a representative of the reclusive Sistani, said in a sermon delivered in the shrine city of Karbala.
“He should not be satisfied with some minor steps he recently announced,” Safi said. Instead, the government should make important decisions and take drastic measures to fight corruption and achieve social justice.
“He should make the political parties accountable and identify who is hampering the march of reform, whoever they are,” he added.
Abadi reacted immediately and promised to follow Sistani’s advice. “I declare my total commitment to the directions of the religious Marjaiya [Shia religious leadership], which has voiced the concerns and aspirations of the Iraqi people,” he said in a statement. He said he would draft a plan to fight graft and invited other political parties to contribute.