{"id":17447,"date":"2019-11-04T06:00:33","date_gmt":"2019-11-04T06:00:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/?p=17447"},"modified":"2019-11-04T08:01:01","modified_gmt":"2019-11-04T08:01:01","slug":"iraqs-top-shiah-cleric-urges-end-of-bloodshed-warns-of-civil-war","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/iraqs-top-shiah-cleric-urges-end-of-bloodshed-warns-of-civil-war\/","title":{"rendered":"Iraq\u2019s top Shi\u2019ah cleric urges end of bloodshed, warns of civil war"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Ayatollah al-Sistani has urged the end of bloodshed in \u200ethe Arab country, warning of a civil war and chaos after dozens of deaths during the recent \u200ewave of protest rallies across Iraq.\u200e<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n
RNA \u2013 Iraq\u2019s top Shi\u2019ah cleric Ayatollah Sayyid Ali al-Sistani has urged the end of bloodshed in \u200ethe Arab country, warning of a civil war and chaos after dozens of deaths during the recent \u200ewave of protest rallies across Iraq.\u200e<\/p>\n

In a statement on Friday, Ayatollah al-Sistani expressed regret over the continued clashes \u200ebetween demonstrators and security forces, which have resulted in the deaths and injuries of \u200emany innocent people from both sides and damages to public and private properties.\u200e<\/p>\n

\u200e\u201cThe innocent blood shed during the past few weeks is very valuable to us, and measures \u200emust be taken to prevent further bloodshed,\u201d the top cleric said.\u200e<\/p>\n

\u200e\u201cThe country must be kept from slipping toward the edge of the precipice of a civil war, \u200echaos, and destruction,\u201d Ayatollah al-Sistani urged.\u200e<\/p>\n

This is only possible if all parties join hands to resolve the current crisis in the country with \u200egood faith, he added.\u200e<\/p>\n

The top cleric once again condemned any assault on the peaceful protesters and any \u200eunjustifiable violence, calling for investigation into those who use violence.\u200e<\/p>\n

Ayatollah al-Sistani also warned any individuals and groups inside Iraq as well as regional and \u200eworld countries against attempting to exploit the Iraqi people\u2019s protests.\u200e<\/p>\n

PMU says won\u2019t interfere in rallies<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Iraq\u2019s Popular Mobilization Units, also known as Hashd al-Sha\u2019abi, announced \u200ethat it will support the legitimate demands of protesters without interfering in the country\u2019s \u200epolitical situation.\u200e<\/p>\n

In a statement on Thursday, the PMU stressed that it is not going to meddle in the public \u200edemonstrations as it is a force tasked with ensuring the security and integrity of Iraq and \u200edefending the country against terrorism.\u200e<\/p>\n

The statement further dismissed rumors circulating on social media against the PMU, the \u200elatest of which was about the deployment of military vehicles from the house of PMU \u200ecommander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis in Baghdad\u2019s Jadriyah neighborhood.\u200e<\/p>\n

Muhandis, it said, has no base or house in Jadriyah and his office is the PMU headquarters in \u200ethe Green Zone of Baghdad.\u200e<\/p>\n

The PMU played a decisive role in Iraq\u2019s uphill 2014-2017 battle against the Daesh terrorist \u200egroup. The Iraqi parliament on November 26, 2016 approved a law giving full legal status to \u200ePMU fighters.\u200e<\/p>\n

The ongoing demonstrations in Iraq follow a previous bout of anti-government protests in \u200eearly October over corruption, unemployment and lack of basic services.\u200e<\/p>\n

More than 200 have been killed and thousands of others wounded since the protests \u200eerupted, with security forces using tear gas and rubber bullets against those taking to the \u200estreets.\u200e<\/p>\n

As part of efforts to meet the anti-corruption demands, the Iraqi Supreme Anti-Corruption \u200eCouncil announced on Friday that it has issued arrest warrants for a minister, a provincial \u200ecouncil chief, five lawmakers, two former ministers, and 60 local officials for corruption.\u200e<\/p>\n

Also in Thursday remarks, Iraqi President Barham Salih said the country\u2019s embattled Prime \u200eMinister Adel Abdul-Mahdi is ready to step down if a replacement is found, emphasizing that \u200ea snap parliamentary election will be held once a new electoral law is passed.\u200e<\/p>\n

Early elections cannot be held until a new electoral law is passed, Salih said, adding that he \u200eexpected a bill to be introduced in parliament by next week.\u200e<\/p>\n

It took more than six months of negotiations before Abdul-Mahdi was appointed a year ago, \u200eand finding a successor all the political factions can agree to will not be easy.\u200e<\/p>\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ayatollah al-Sistani has urged the end of bloodshed in \u200ethe Arab country, warning of a civil war and chaos after dozens of deaths during the recent \u200ewave of protest rallies across Iraq.\u200e RNA \u2013 Iraq\u2019s top Shi\u2019ah cleric Ayatollah Sayyid Ali al-Sistani has urged the end of bloodshed in \u200ethe Arab country, warning of a …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":17448,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,432],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17447","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-scientists-news","category-supreme-leader"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17447","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17447"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17447\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17449,"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17447\/revisions\/17449"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17448"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17447"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17447"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17447"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}