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Iraq Prime Minister Says He Will Resign Amid Protests Iraq Prime Minister Says He Will Resign Amid Protests
(about 5 hours later)
BAGHDAD — Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi of Iraq announced on Friday that he would submit his resignation to Parliament, following weeks of nationwide antigovernment protests that have left hundreds dead. The announcement comes after demonstrators set fire to the Iranian Consulate and the death of hundreds in violent antigovernment unrest.
The announcement prompted jubilant celebrations at the main protest site, Tahrir Square in Baghdad, the capital. By Alissa J. Rubin
While Parliament is likely to accept his resignation, the timing is unclear. What is certain is that the resignation of Mr. Mahdi, 78, would lead Iraq into uncharted territory, as he would be the first prime minister to resign from office since the 2003 invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein. BAGHDAD — Pressured by an expanding protest movement and a rising death toll, Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi of Iraq said Friday that he would submit his resignation to Parliament, taking the country into greater uncertainty and possibly months of turmoil ahead.
In a statement issued by his office, Mr. Mahdi said he was stepping down so that the government could “reconsider its options” and “preserve the blood of its people, and avoid slipping into a cycle of violence, chaos and devastation.” Mr. Mahdi’s resignation would make him another prominent political casualty in a wave of recent antigovernment tumult that has swept the region.
The decision comes one day after dozens were killed in a violent crackdown on protesters following a firebombing on Wednesday of the Iranian Consulate in the southern Iraqi city of Najaf that set off demonstrations around the country. Deep seated anger over Iran’s influence in Iraqi politics and corruption are the major drivers of the protests across Iraq. In Lebanon, citizen rage over that country’s dysfunctional government pushed its prime minister to announce his resignation in October. And in Iran itself, the authorities scrambled to crush protests and riots in 100 cities set off a few weeks ago by an abrupt increase in fuel prices — the deadliest unrest to hit Iran in years.
At least 400 demonstrators have been killed since antigovernment protests began at the start of October. On Thursday, 40 protesters were shot dead by security forces in Baghdad and the southern cities of Najaf and Nasiriyah, a sharp escalation of violence that continued on Friday. The resignation announcement by Mr. Mahdi was a particularly bitter blow for Iran, which had handpicked Mr. Mahdi and on Wednesday suffered an attack on its consulate in the southern city of Najaf. The building was severely damaged by firebombs thrown by protesters.
It has been just over a year since Mr. Mahdi took office, and there is no agreement on who would take his place. One idea floated is for him to remain in a caretaker role, which would further weaken his government. Iran has repeatedly sought to prop up Mr. Mahdi since he became prime minister in 2018, according to leaked Iranian intelligence reports obtained by The Intercept and shared with The New York Times. Mr. Mahdi worked closely with Iran while Saddam Hussein was in power, and for years he served as a member of a large Shiite party tied to Iran. He became an independent in 2017, but the leaked cables suggest he kept close ties to Iran in recent years.
At least 35 protesters were killed on Thursday in violence centered on the southern city of Nasiriyah, where on Wednesday the government had sent additional security forces to try to halt what had become daily unrest there. Mr. Mahdi’s announcement on Friday initially prompted jubilant celebrations at the main protest site, Tahrir Square in Baghdad, but the happiness faded quickly, tempered by mourning for people killed in the protests and an acknowledgment there will be little immediate change.
Instead of using tear gas or sound bombs, the hard-line reinforcements from the Interior Ministry’s Quick Reaction Forces opened fire on the mostly unarmed protesters in the early morning hours as they held a sit-in. At least 25 were killed and 160 wounded, according to a report from the Dhi Qar governor’s office and the Iraqi security forces’ Joint Operational Command. “This is the first step,” said Hiatt Mehdi, 60, a widow with seven children, including a son who has been demonstrating for the last 35 days without coming home. She had come to Tahrir Square to congratulate her son that his efforts seemed to have been rewarded by Mr. Mahdi’s announcement.
Later in the day, violence resulting in at least 10 further deaths resumed in Najaf and in Karbala, which is home to the country’s two most venerated Shiite Muslim shrines. “But it’s really not enough.” she said.
On Thursday, protesters attacked one of the city’s most significant shrines, and the riot forces and popular mobilization forces defending the site drove the demonstrators back using live fire, according to witnesses.
In Karbala, there were clashes in the evening, and demonstrators hurled at least two grenades at the Iraqi security forces, injuring 19, according to a police statement.
Mr. Mahdi’s decision was announced a day after at least 40 protesters were killed in a violent crackdown following the attack on the Iranian Consulate that fanned demonstrations across Iraq’s Shiite south.
At least 354 have been killed since antigovernment protests began at the start of October and more than 8,000 have been wounded, the United Nations High Commission for Human Rights said. Its most recent report notes “the actual total is likely to be higher.”
Many of those killed, like one boy, Hussein Abid, 16, who was shot Thursday near Al Ahrar bridge in Baghdad, look even younger than their age; they are largely unarmed and come from poor families. He came from Sadr City, a vast Shiite slum in eastern Baghdad.
The protests and accompanying violence have occurred almost entirely in Baghdad and the Shiite south of Iraq, where mostly young people and poorer people have taken to the streets demanding sweeping changes in the political system. They want to see an end to the political parties, which demand kickbacks for licenses, contracts and jobs.
Even young people applying for low-level positions like security guards or elementary schoolteachers who are not affiliated with the correct party might be asked to pay $5,000 for a state job, a large sum for most Iraqis. In Iraq, government positions are viewed as the only secure jobs and the private sector remains small.
Many of the parties that dominate Parliament are close to Iran and it is an open secret that Iranian officials helped to set up the current government last year, brokering an agreement that brought in Mr. Mahdi, President Barham Salih and the house speaker, Mohammed Al-Halbousi.
Earlier this month Maj. Gen. Qassim Soleimani, the leader of the Quds Force, Iran’s elite unit of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, brokered an agreement to keep Mr. Mahdi in office for at least six weeks, but the protests and criticism from Shiite religious leaders in Najaf cut short Mr. Mahdi’s reprieve.
In a statement issued by his office on Friday, Mr. Mahdi said he was stepping down so that the government could “reconsider its options” and “preserve the blood of its people, and avoid slipping into a cycle of violence, chaos and devastation.”
Pressure has been building for some time on the prime minister, who was also facing the growing threat of a humiliating parliamentary no-confidence petition. He said his decision was prompted after Grand Ayatollah Ali Al-Sistani, the senior Shiite cleric in Iraq, on Friday urged the parliament to “reconsider its options” and to stop procrastinating, or “the country will pay a high price and everyone will regret it.”
By offering his resignation, Mr. Mahdi would be taking the first step to prompt a change in the government.
But the potential loomed for protracted delays in forming a new government. Mr. Mahdi, who a month ago expressed a willingness to step down but held off, has not yet submitted his resignation, though he is expected to follow through this time.
The Parliament could accept Mr. Mahdi’s resignation as soon as Sunday, when it meets after the Muslim weekend. That would leave Mr. Mahdi and his ministers in a caretaker government until a new prime minister is named by President Salih. Under the Iraqi constitution that should take place quickly but in the past agreeing on a prime minister has proved to be a tortuous process of balancing competing political factions that, in Mr. Mahdi’s case, took a year.
The prospect of delay helps explain why the initial euphoria on the street Friday was diminished by the acknowledgment among the protesters that without far broader changes, Mr. Mahdi’s resignation would contribute little to their long-term goal of transforming the Iraqi state.
“Adil Mehdi’s resignation means nothing,” said Abdul Mutalib, 26, a pharmacist. “Last week they killed one of our colleagues, Ahmed Haithem, he was 25 years old and a nurse, was married with a child.”
“This is just like a drug, an injection to anesthetize the people,” Mr. Mutalib said. “It doesn’t bring any change.”
The protesters have called for a complete overhaul of the system that would push many of the parties out of the Parliament, depriving them of lucrative ministries. But it remains to be seen if they can persuade lawmakers to vote to disband a system that has served their interests.
President Salih is pushing for an election law that would achieve those goals. But the version he sent to Parliament has already been amended into something that seems likely to perpetuate the current system, legal experts say.
For many of the protesters, who have already spent weeks on the street, the events on Friday were just one stop on what they expect to be a long road, said Abu Mohammad, 45, a construction worker and father of six.
“We don’t know who Adel Abdul Mahdi is, he did not come through elections,” he said. “We want all of the government to resign, we don’t want parties, so this step of Adil means nothing, they are trying to fool us and then they will replace him with someone worse.”
Falih Hassan in Baghdad contributed reporting.