Iraqi Lawmakers Arrested in Overnight Corruption Raid
Iraqi security forces arrested seven people including five sitting parliamentarians on corruption charges Sunday, sealing off Baghdad's Green Zone during predawn raids.
The arrests stemmed from statements provided by Adnan al-Jumaili, the former Deputy Minister of Oil who was taken into custody last month, as reported by Iraq’s state-run Iraqi News Agency.
Iraqi security forces sealed off all entrances to Baghdad’s heavily fortified Green Zone in the early hours of Sunday, conducting raids throughout the compound that serves as home to critical government institutions and foreign embassies.
Seven individuals were arrested in total, five of whom are current members of Parliament, according to a security agency report obtained by The Associated Press and cited by New York Post.
Several of those arrested belong to the political bloc of former Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani. The specific nature of the corruption allegations against them has not been publicly disclosed.
Al-Sudani’s bloc secured the largest number of seats in parliamentary elections held last November, but he ultimately withdrew from the premiership race amid internal deadlock within the Coordination Framework, a coalition of Shiite parties with ties to Iran that had initially brought al-Sudani to power.
Ali al-Zaidi, a businessman and political newcomer, replaced him as a consensus candidate with backing from the United States.
The arrests are expected to send shockwaves through Iraq’s deeply fragmented political arena, where corruption allegations often blur with power struggles and competing influences among rival factions.
With information from New York Post
