Baghdad- Iraqi lawmakers are considering arresting former Iraqi prime minister Mustafa Kadhimi for his alleged role in the assassination of Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis and Qassem Soleimani by the US in 2020.
During an interview with Iraqi news outlet Shafaq News on 12 December, a senior official in the State of Law Coalition, Fadhel Mwat al-Zerigawi, revealed lawmakers are mulling over the decision. He also claimed Kadhimi is being sheltered inside the US embassy.
“The available information confirms that [Kadhimi] is in the capital, Baghdad, and has not left the country. He is inside the Green Zone, and is sheltering in the American embassy,” Zerigawi said on Monday.
He then added: “The next stage will witness the issuance of arrest warrants and investigations against Kadhimi for his involvement in the [theft of the century] case and the assassination of Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis and Qassem Soleimani.”
High-ranking military sources that spoke with Shafaq News on condition of anonymity revealed that Iraqi troops assigned to protect Kadhimi this week received orders to withdraw from his home in the Green Zone.
Back in 2020, Iran suggested it had discovered evidence suggesting Kadhimi – who at the time directed the Iraqi National Intelligence Service – was involved in the assassination of Soleimani and Muhandis.
Soleimani, the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Quds Force, and Muhandis, the deputy chief of the Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), were killed in a US drone strike outside of Baghdad airport on 3 January, 2020.
Their assassination sent shockwaves across West Asia, particularly in Iraq, prompting lawmakers to pass a resolution demanding the withdrawal of US military forces in response to Washington’s violation of Iraqi sovereignty.
Despite Kadhimi’s early promises to enforce this resolution and expel all foreign military forces from Iraq, the former premier did not expel any US troops, but rather, provided them with an opportunity to re-brand their occupation, as around 4,000 military personnel remain in the country in “advisory roles.”
Once a little-known Iraqi journalist working for Radio Free Europe – a CIA front organization – and the US-based Al Monitor, Kadhimi was named the director of the Iraqi National Intelligence Service in 2016. Some Iraqis believe he received this sensitive posting because of US pressure on Iraq’s then-prime minister, Haider Al-Abadi.
Since Abdul-Mahdi stepped down due to popular unrest, Iraq was economically and politically paralyzed. Almost two and a half years of Mustafa al-Kadhimi in office produced only more poverty and increased external meddling in Iraq.
In late October, the Iraqi parliament approved the new government led by Prime Minister Mohamed Shia al-Sudani, putting an end to a year of political paralysis since the parliamentary elections last year
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