Halbussi had been the highest-ranking Sunni official since he first became speaker of parliament in 2018 with the support of Iraq's powerful pro-Iran parties, and then in 2022 following early elections.

But in November 2023, Iraq's Federal Supreme Court dismissed Halbussi after a lawmaker accused him of forging a resignation letter and said the former speaker had changed the date on an older document to force him out of parliament.

Halbussi's media office said on Sunday that "the Iraqi judiciary acquitted" the former head of parliament "of the charges previously brought against him."

It added that the courts "dismissed the complaints" and closed the investigation.

Halbussi, who heads the Taqadom party, is known for his rapid ascent in Iraqi politics and as a key interlocutor for many Western and Arab dignitaries.

Iraq's 329-member parliament is dominated by a coalition of pro-Iran Shiite parties.

Under a power-sharing system adopted in Iraq in the aftermath of the 2003 US-led invasion, political positions are divided between Iraq's ethnic and confessional communities.

In the top positions, the role of prime minister, currently held by Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, always goes to a Shiite Muslim, that of speaker of parliament to a Sunni Muslim and the presidency to a Kurd.

]]> Fri, 23 MAY 2025 02:30:03 AEST Baghdad (AFP) April 23, 2025 - France's Foreign Minister said on Wednesday that Iraq should not be pulled into conflicts in a turbulent Middle East during his first visit to the country, which has suffered from decades of instability.

Jean-Noel Barrot will also visit Kuwait and Saudi Arabia as part of a regional tour to push for a two-state solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

Amid the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, Iraq, an ally to both Tehran and Washington, has been navigating a delicate balancing act not to be drawn into the fighting, after pro-Iran factions launched numerous attacks on US troops based in Iraq, as well as mostly failed attacks on Israel.

"It is essential for Iraq not to be drawn into conflicts it did not choose," Barrot said in a joint conference with his counterpart Fuad Hussein.

He praised the Iraqi government's efforts to "preserve the stability of the country."

"We are convinced that a strong and independent Iraq is a source of stability for the entire region, which is threatened today by the conflict that started on October 7, and Iran's destabilising activities," Barrot said.

There have been no attacks by pro-Iran Iraqi factions for several months, while Iraq is now preparing to host an Arab League summit and the third edition of the Baghdad Conference on regional stability, which Paris has been co-organising with Baghdad since 2021.

Since returning to the White House in January, US President Donald Trump has reinstated his "maximum pressure" policy with Iran while engaging in talks over its nuclear program.

Fuad Hussein urged for successful talks "to spare the region from the danger of war," adding that "there are no alternatives to negotiations."

Barrot will meet Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani in Baghdad before heading to the autonomous Kurdistan region in northern Iraq to meet with Kurdish leaders.

Iraq and France have been strengthening their bilateral relations in several sectors, including energy and security.

France has deployed troops in Iraq as part of the US-led international coalition to fight the Islamic State group, which was defeated in Iraq in 2017, although some of its jihadist cells remain active.

Baghdad is now seeking to end the coalition's mission and replace it with bilateral military partnerships with the coalition's members, saying its own forces can lead the fight against the weakened jihadists.

"We cannot allow ten years of success against terrorism to be undermined," Barrot said, adding that France remains ready to contribute to the fighting.

Barrot's regional tour will also help "prepare for the international conference for the implementation of the two-state solution" that Paris will co-organise in June with Riyadh, the French foreign ministry said.

French President Emmanuel Macron said earlier this month that France planned to recognise a Palestinian state, possibly as early as June.

He said he hoped it would "trigger a series of other recognitions", including of Israel.

For decades, the formal recognition of a Palestinian state has been seen as the endgame of a peace process between Palestinians and Israel.

]]> Fri, 23 MAY 2025 02:30:03 AEST Baghdad (AFP) April 8, 2025 - The United Nations mission to Iraq called for an independent investigation Tuesday after a detainee died under "unclear circumstances" in a Baghdad detention centre.

In a post on X, the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) said it was "following closely the case of an Iraqi national who died in unclear circumstances after being detained in Baghdad."

"The mission is deeply concerned about reports the victim suffered from traumatic injuries during detention," it added.

The detainee was transferred to hospital where he died Monday, 10 days after his arrest, the statement added.

UNAMI urged authorities to conduct "a fair, transparent, and independent investigation that leads to accountability for those responsible for human rights abuses".

The interior ministry said Sunday that Bashir Khaled Latif was detained after attempting to enter the apartment of a senior security official, with whom a fight then broke out.

Latif was taken to hospital for treatment for a head wound but then transferred to the detention centre, where he was described as being in a "hysterical" state.

Two days after his transfer, he was allegedly attacked by fellow detainees and went into a coma. He then died on Monday.

On Monday evening, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani tasked a commission of inquiry with producing a "detailed report on what took place".

"This incident, and everything the deceased endured. will not pass without those responsible for any failings being held to account and light being thrown on the real causes of his death," he said.

Iraq has long had a chequered human rights record in its treatment of detainees. Chronic overcrowding and poor prison conditions have only added to the problem.

]]> Fri, 23 MAY 2025 02:30:03 AEST Dohuk, Iraq (AFP) April 1, 2025 - Two people were injured on Tuesday in a cleaver attack on an Assyrian Christian celebration in northern Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region, officials said, pointing to the Islamic State jihadist group.

The region's Asayesh police force said it was investigating the attack in the city of Dohuk.

The region's autonomous Kurdish authorities said the attacker was Syrian and influenced "by terrorist ideology affiliated to Daesh", using the Arabic acronym for IS.

Kurdish media said the attacker used a cleaver.

According to a police source, the attack took place in a market and targeted the Akitu springtime celebrations observed by members of the Assyrian community to mark the first day of their calendar year.

"A 65-year-old woman was hit on the head" and suffered a haemorrhage that did not require surgery, Dohuk medical authorities said, adding that her condition was "stable".

Another 25-year-old man suffered a minor scalp wound, the authorities added.

Dohuk governor Ali Tatar told a press conference that "our security forces arrested the suspect... the investigation is ongoing".

Iraq's Christian population plunged from some 1.5 million before the fall of Saddam Hussein in the early 2000s to about 400,000, the majority having fled successive bouts of violence in the country.

The rise in 2014 of the Islamic State, which had conquered the city of Mosul in northern Iraq and made it their "capital" notably accelerated their exodus.

But even when IS held Mosul and its surrounding areas until its defeat in 2017, neighbouring Kurdistan was relatively spared from jihadist attacks.

Jihadist cells are still active in Iraq, sporadically attacking the army and police, particularly in rural and remote areas.

A recent UN report said government-led counter-terrorism operations have resulted in the deaths of nearly half of IS's senior leaders in Iraq.

However, it warned the group could use the unstable situation in Syria following the overthrow of longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad, a member of the Alawite minority, to reinforce its position.

]]> Fri, 23 MAY 2025 02:30:03 AEST Baghdad (AFP) Mar 14, 2025 - Syria's interim foreign minister said in Baghdad on Friday his government was ready to "reinforce cooperation" with Iraq in the fight against remnants of the Islamic State group.

Asaad al-Shaibani's visit to Syria's neighbour coincided with Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani announcing that security forces had killed a senior IS leader.

It was also Shaibani's first visit to Iraq since his Islamist alliance toppled Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad in December.

Relations between neighbours Syria and Iraq have become more complicated since the ouster of Assad, who was a close ally of the government in Baghdad.

Iraq is home to a Shiite Muslim majority, and while it is a strategic partner of the United States, it is also a key ally of Iran, once a main backer of Assad's rule.

While Assad's key support came from Russia, Iran and Hezbollah in Lebanon, Iraqi armed groups were also engaged in defending his rule during the 13-year civil war sparked by his crackdown on democracy protests.

The rebels who ended up ousting Assad in December are Sunni Muslim, and interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa, who has sought to present a more moderate image since coming to power, once fought with Al-Qaeda in Iraq against US forces and their allies.

In Baghdad on Friday, Shaibani met Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein, the official INA news agency reported.

"Security is a shared responsibility," Shaibani told a joint news conference with Hussein.

"We are ready to reinforce cooperation with Iraq in the fight against Daesh (an Arabic acronym for IS) along the whole length of the border. Terrorism knows no borders."

- Alawite killings -

Sudani on Friday posted on X that Abdullah Makki Muslih al-Rufayi, the IS leader killed by Iraqi security forces, "was considered one of the most dangerous terrorists in Iraq and the world".

He said the jihadist, who was targeted by US sanctions in 2023, was IS's so-called governor of the group's Syrian and Iraqi provinces.

Sudani did not say when Rufayi was killed, but applauded the operation by Iraqi intelligence that was carried out in cooperation with the US-led anti-jihadist coalition in Iraq.

At the joint news conference with Shaibani, Hussein said Iraq hoped there would be "tangible results" from an investigation launched by Syria's new authorities into mass killings of civilians by the security forces that largely targeted the Alawite minority.

"We discussed what happened to the Alawite community... and we expressed our concern," he said, adding that he hoped a commission of inquiry formed by Damascus "would achieve tangible results that establish civil peace in Syria".

Baghdad condemned the massacre of at least 1,383 civilians in coastal Syria earlier this month by security forces, allied groups and jihadists.

The vast majority of the civilians killed were Alawites, members of Assad's sect, itself an offshoot of Shiite Islam.

Baghdad said earlier this week it was investigating an attack on Syrian workers in Iraq after a newly formed group in the country vowed to avenge the mass killing of Alawite civilians.

Supporters of pro-Iran armed groups in Iraq have launched an online campaign against Syrians who they say support the mass killings.

Iraqi forces have in recent days arrested at least 13 Syrians accused of "promoting terrorist groups" and supporting the mass killings in Syria, two interior ministry officials told AFP on condition of anonymity.

On Wednesday, Syria's foreign ministry denounced the violence against its citizens, and urged Baghdad to take "necessary measures to ensure the security of Syrians residing in Iraq".

burs-srm/kir

X

]]> Fri, 23 MAY 2025 02:30:03 AEST Baghdad (AFP) Mar 12, 2025 - Iraq said Wednesday it was investigating an attack on Syrian workers in the country after a newly formed Iraqi group vowed to avenge the mass killing of Alawite civilians in Syria.

For several days, Syria's Mediterranean coast was engulfed in extreme violence, with mass killings of members of the Alawite minority community, to which ousted president Bashar al-Assad belongs.

A previously unknown group in Iraq posted a video showing masked men beating two bakery employees.

In an earlier statement, the group had condemned Syrians in Iraq "who support crimes against humanity" against Syria's Alawites and warned that they would escalate their attacks.

Iraqi Prime Minister Mohamed Shia al-Sudani denounced the attack on the workers in a statement, calling it a "shameful act of violence" and ordering an investigation.

"The law will be fully enforced against anyone involved in these attacks," he added.

Iraqi forces have in recent days arrested at least 13 Syrians accused of "promoting terrorist groups" and supporting the mass killing in Syria, two interior ministry officials told AFP on condition of anonymity.

Syria's foreign ministry on Wednesday slammed the violence against its citizens, urging Baghdad in a statement to take "necessary measures to ensure the security of Syrians residing in Iraq".

Supporters of pro-Iran armed groups in Iraq have launched an online campaign against Syrians who they say support the mass killings.

Iraq has kept a cautious distance from Syria since Islamist-led rebels toppled Assad in December.

Syria's interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa led the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which grew out of Al-Qaeda in Syria, and engaged with that jihadist group's branch in Iraq.

]]> Fri, 23 MAY 2025 02:30:03 AEST Mosul, Iraq (AFP) Feb 5, 2025 - The director-general of United Nations heritage body UNESCO hailed the completion of their restoration work in the Iraqi city of Mosul, saying on Wednesday it had allowed it to recover its "identity" after destruction inflicted by the Islamic State group.

Mosul's historic Al-Nuri Mosque with its famed leaning minaret, nicknamed Al-Hadba or "hunchback", has been restored using its original brickwork, years after it was reduced to rubble under Islamic State group rule.

"I am very happy to stand before you and before the minaret over 850 years old... and the fact to have it here behind me in front of you is like history coming back... is like the identity of the city coming back," Audrey Azoulay said.

The mosque and minaret were destroyed in June 2017 during the battle to oust IS from Mosul, and Iraq's authorities accused the jihadists of planting explosives before their withdrawal.

They are the latest landmarks in Mosul to be restored by UNESCO, whose teams have worked for five years to revive several sites.

"The reconstruction of this minaret needed to reuse nearly 45,000 original bricks," the UNESCO chief said, adding that traditional techniques were used to rebuild the iconic structure.

Azouley said residents had wanted the rebuilt minaret to resemble the original. "The people of Mosul wanted it tilted," she said.

Eighty percent of Mosul's old city was destroyed in the fight against IS.

UNESCO restoration project also include Al-Tahira and Our Lady of the Hour churches and 124 heritage houses.

Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani will inaugurate the restored landmarks in the coming weeks.

Iraq's famed 'hunchback' of Mosul rebuilt brick by brick
Mosul, Iraq (AFP) Feb 6, 2025 - The leaning minaret of Mosul in northern Iraq has been restored using its original brickwork, years after it was reduced to rubble under Islamic State group rule.

The Al-Hadba or "hunchback" minaret is part of the historic Al-Nuri Mosque from where former IS chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in July 2014 declared his "caliphate" that committed atrocities across swathes of both Syria and Iraq.

The mosque and minaret were destroyed in June 2017 during the battle to oust IS from Mosul, and Iraq's authorities accused the jihadists of planting explosives before their withdrawal.

The minaret and mosque are the latest landmarks in Mosul to be restored by United Nations heritage body UNESCO, whose teams have worked for five years to revive several sites there.

The Al-Hadba minaret of today is an exact replica of the old one, "built with the same bricks", said Abdullah Mahmoud of the Iraqi department of antiquities.

"Al-Hadba is our identity, and by restoring it, the identity of the city has been reclaimed."

The restored minaret's tilt has been retained at 160 centimetres (63 inches), just as it was in the 1960s.

However, engineers have reinforced the foundations so it no longer leans quite so precariously, as it began to do gradually after being built in the 12th century.

"The minaret's body from the inside needed 96,000 new bricks," Mahmoud said.

"But for the exterior we used 26,000 old bricks" to preserve its historical legacy.

- 'Massive change' -

Days before work was completed, hundreds of workers put the finishing touches to Al-Nuri's columns, dome and yard.

Mahmoud said the mihrab, a niche indicating the direction of Mecca, has been largely repaired using its original stones.

But the minbar, from where sermons are delivered, has lost most of its original pieces.

Across the street, Imad Zaki, a former muezzin at the mosque, said: "Every day I stand here for an hour to watch as they are restored to their original state."

"Today one can feel the spirituality. It's as if our souls have finally found peace," added the 52-year-old, wearing a long traditional Iraqi abaya, or robe.

Eighty percent of Mosul's old city was destroyed in the fight against IS, and more than 12,000 tons of rubble was removed for the UNESCO restoration project, which also included Al-Tahira and Our Lady of the Hour churches and 124 heritage houses.

The Al-Tahira Church, dating from 1862, has been rebuilt with its arcades, embellished pillars and stained-glass windows.

During restoration, workers discovered an underground cellar and large jars once used for wine. It now has a glass ceiling so visitors can look inside.

Maria Acetoso, senior project manager at UNESCO Iraq, said the project aimed "to work in parallel on meaningful monuments for the city and also to bring life back" to Mosul.

"When I arrived here in 2019 it looked like a ghost city," Acetoso said. "In five years plus, there has been a massive change."

In Mosul on Wednesday, UNESCO chief Audrey Azoulay hailed her team's efforts and said on that the renovation had allowed "the identity of the city" to return.

- Scars of battle -

After IS was defeated, life returned to the city's streets, where the chatter of patrons in small cafes blended with the clatter of construction work at the mosque.

In the coming weeks, Iraqi authorities will inaugurate the restored landmarks.

But Mosul still bears scars from the ferocious fight against IS.

Tucked away in narrow old city alleyways are ruined houses. Some bear the word "safe" scrawled in red on walls, signalling that they that have been cleared of explosives.

The crumbling walls and shattered windows tell tales of displacement. Their original owners, mostly Christian, have yet to return.

Mohammed Kassem, 59, came back to the old city a few years ago, to a new house as his former home was just debris.

Mosul still "needs a great deal" of work before it is back to normal, he said.

"It needs its former residents... the Christians to come back. This is their place," Kassem added.

Across the street from Al-Nuri Mosque, Saad Mohammed, 65, said he hoped the restoration efforts will attract visitors to Mosul, although he still feels sad because of what it has lost.

But he couldn't help but smile when he looked up at the minaret from his little shop.

"We opened the window once and saw the black IS flag on top of the minaret. Then we opened it again and the minaret was gone," said Mohammed, who never left Mosul, even at the height of the fighting.

"Today the minaret has risen again, alongside the mosque and the churches. Now we feel safe," he said.

]]> Fri, 23 MAY 2025 02:30:03 AEST Nimrud, Iraq (AFP) Jan 9, 2025 - A decade after jihadists ransacked Iraq's famed Nimrud site, archaeologists have been painstakingly putting together its ancient treasures, shattered into tens of thousands of tiny fragments.

Once the crown jewel of the ancient Assyrian empire, the archaeological site was ravaged by Islamic State (IS) fighters after they seized large areas of Iraq and neighbouring Syria in 2014.

The precious pre-Islamic artefacts destroyed by the jihadists are now in pieces, but the archaeologists working in Nimrud are undaunted by the colossal task they face.

"Every time we find a piece and bring it to its original place, it's like a new discovery," Abdel Ghani Ghadi, a 47-year-old expert working on the site, told AFP.

More than 500 artefacts were found shattered at the site, located about 30 kilometres (19 miles) from Mosul, the city in northern Iraq where IS established the capital of their self-declared "caliphate".

Meticulous excavation work by Iraqi archaeologists has already yielded more than 35,000 fragments.

The archaeologists have been carefully reassembling bas-reliefs, sculptures and decorated slabs depicting mythical creatures, which had all graced the palace of Assyrian King Ashurnasirpal II nearly 3,000 years ago.

Seen from above, the pieces of the puzzle gradually come together. Shards of what just several years ago was a single artefact are placed side by side, protected by sheets of green tarpaulin.

Bit by bit, the image of Ashurnasirpal II appears on one bas-relief alongside a winged, bearded figure with curly hair and a flower on its wrist, as the restoration brings back to life rich details carved in stone millennia ago.

Another artefact shows handcuffed prisoners from territories that rebelled against the mighty Assyrian army.

Partially reconstructed lamassus -- depictions of an Assyrian deity with a human head, the body of a bull or a lion and the wings of a bird -- lay on their side, not far from tablets bearing ancient cuneiform text.

- 'Complex operation' -

"These sculptures are the treasures of Mesopotamia," said Ghadi.

"Nimrud is the heritage of all of humanity, a history that goes back 3,000 years."

Founded in the 13th century BC as Kalhu, Nimrud reached its peak in the ninth century BC and was the second capital of the Assyrian empire.

Propaganda videos released by IS in 2015 showed jihadists destroying monuments with bulldozers, hacking away at them with pickaxes or exploding them.

One of those monuments was the 2,800-year-old temple of Nabu, the Mesopotamian god of wisdom and writing.

IS fighters wreaked havoc at other sites too, like the once-celebrated Mosul Museum and ancient Palmyra in neighbouring Syria.

The jihadist group was defeated in Iraq in 2017, and the restoration project in Nimrud began a year later, only to be interrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic and restart in 2023.

Mohamed Kassim of the Academic Research Institute in Iraq told AFP that "until now, it has been a process of collection, classification and identification."

About 70 percent of the collection work has been completed at the Assyrian palace site, with about a year's worth of fieldwork left before restoration can begin in full force, said Kassim, noting it was a "complex operation".

His organisation has been working closely with Iraqi archaeologists, supporting their drive to "save" Nimrud and preserve its cultural riches, through training sessions provided by the Smithsonian Institution with financial support from the United States.

- One shard after another -

Kassim said that the delicate restoration process will require expertise not found in Iraq and "international support" due to the extent of the "barbaric" destruction in Nimrud.

"One of the most important ancient sites of the Mesopotamian civilisation," according to Kassim, Nimrud is a testament to a golden age of "the art and architecture of the Assyrian civilisation".

The site was first excavated by archaeologists in the 19th century and received international recognition for the immense lamassu figures that were taken to Europe to be exhibited in London's British Museum and the Louvre in Paris.

Other artefacts from Nimrud have been on display in Mosul and Iraq's capital Baghdad.

The site has also attracted figures like British author Agatha Christie, who visited there with her archaeologist husband.

On a recent tour of Nimrud, Iraq's Culture Minister Ahmed Fakak al-Badrani hailed the "difficult" work carried out by archaeologists there, collecting broken pieces and comparing them to drawings and photographs of the artefacts they attempt to reconstruct.

The vast destruction has made it impossible, at least for now, to ascertain which antiquities were stolen by IS, the minister said.

And the process will take time.

Badrani said he expects that it will take 10 years of hard work before the marvels of King Ashurnasirpal II's palace can be seen again, complete.

]]> Fri, 23 MAY 2025 02:30:03 AEST London (AFP) Dec 31, 2024 - Newly-declassified UK government documents published Tuesday reveal the frustrations of then-prime minister Tony Blair and his government with French leader Jaques Chirac for blocking UN-backed military action in Iraq in 2003.

Minutes of an emergency cabinet meeting on March 17, 2003 -- a week after Chirac said he would veto any resolution approving military action -- showed UK ministers agreed "the French attitude had undermined the mechanism of the UN to enforce the will of the international community."

"We had tried our utmost" but the French "were not prepared to accept that if President Saddam Hussein of Iraq did not comply with UN obligations, military action should follow," Blair told the meeting, according to files released by the National Archives.

Britain joined the US-led military action to oust Saddam in 2003, despite fierce opposition across the country, with Blair highlighting allegations that the Iraqi dictator had stockpiled weapons of mass destruction.

The WMD accusations fuelled by the administration of then president George W. Bush were later proven to be false.

According to the files, then foreign minister Jack Straw told cabinet "effectively, one member of the UN Security Council had torpedoed the whole process", and accused Chirac, who died in 2019, of deciding to "open up a strategic divide between France and the UK."

In a meeting three days later, Straw said Chirac "appeared to be positioning himself ... (to) become leader of one side of the bi-polar world he advocated," in contrast to a US-dominated world.

By contrast, ministers were told in the March 17 meeting that the Labour government "was motivated by a world view which promoted justice, good governance and pluralism and this set it apart from other governments of the industrialised world."

The final minute of the meeting read: "Summing up, the prime minister said that the diplomatic process was now at an end; Saddam Hussein would be given an ultimatum to leave Iraq; and the House of Commons would be asked to endorse the use of military action against Iraq to enforce compliance, if necessary."

- Blair 'sorrow, regret' -

The UK joined the US-led invasion of Iraq on March 20, 2003, despite around one million people marching in London to protest against military intervention.

The invasion and subsequent war severely dented Blair's popularity, culminating in the independent Chilcot inquiry, which concluded in 2016 he had deliberately exaggerated the threat posed by the Iraqi regime.

Blair expressed "sorrow, regret and apology" for mistakes made in planning the conflict, while his influential press chief at the time of the war, Alastair Campbell, said the decision would "weigh heavily on him".. "for the rest of his days."

Campbell was also caught up in controversy when the BBC reported he had "sexed up" a dossier on Iraq's military capabilities, claims he has denied.

]]> Fri, 23 MAY 2025 02:30:03 AEST Baghdad (AFP) Dec 22, 2024 - The smell of dampness rises through the dust at a private club in central Baghdad, one of many shut in a crackdown on alcohol sales in Iraq.

"We appealed to all authorities in the country, but no one listened to us," said the owner, a Christian who asked not to be named.

Although a law banning the sale and import of alcohol was passed in 2016 and came into force at the start of last year, its enforcement had been patchy.

But conservative lawmakers have a majority in parliament, and have pushed for stronger action.

Several private "social" clubs that have operated in Baghdad for decades were sent official letters in November forbidding them from manufacturing and serving alcoholic beverages.

In the case of violations, "legal action will be taken," the letters said.

Dozens of establishments have closed in recent months and their owners, often from the Yazidi community, regularly demonstrate in the centre of Baghdad.

The law has proved hugely unpopular with Christians and Yazidis, but many Muslims also drink.

The Christian club owner said his premises held bingo tournaments and music evenings, and "didn't bother anyone" in the neighbourhood.

But customers have deserted the club and the owner has just one employee left to guard the building, now shrouded in dust with playing cards and dirty glasses strewn around the main room.

- 'Cat and mouse' -

However, Iraqis are still free to grab a drink in the autonomous Kurdistan region, or a bottle in the duty-free shops at Baghdad International Airport.

Delivery services and even a few shops in the capital still supply booze.

"We are playing a game of cat and mouse with the authorities," said a shopkeeper from behind the small window of a premises that looked closed from the outside.

To keep their business running, one of the employees acts as a lookout, closing the window each time a security patrol passes.

"Society is hypocritical, because civil servants close our shops and then come to buy alcohol in civilian clothes," he said.

A manager at a nearby social club said it had more than 50,000 members, largely because of its bar.

"We no longer have customers," he said from his office overlooking the club's empty restaurants.

The Interior Ministry did not respond to AFP's request for comment.

Ministry spokesman General Miqdad Miri said in September that some "bars and gambling halls" were being shut because they were "hotbeds of crime" with "gangs, criminals, organ traffickers and murderers".

- Prohibition ineffective -

It is not just the government that objects to alcohol.

Armed groups have attacked and blown up liquor shops in recent years.

Razaw Salihy, Amnesty International's Iraq researcher, said prohibition policies had proven ineffective and "instead often fuel violence, illicit markets, and human rights violations".

And the outright ban seems to be inconsistent with other rules -- like a February 2023 decision to impose a 200 percent customs tax on "imported alcoholic beverages".

Yazidi lawmaker Mahma Khalil joined merchants in filing a legal complaint arguing the law was unconstitutional, but the court rejected their request.

He said the law had affected between 150,000 and 200,000 workers in sectors linked to the sale of alcohol.

Several million dollars were being lost every month, he said.

Yazidi and Christian entrepreneurs, some who have been in Baghdad since the 1960s, were now thinking of moving overseas or heading for the Kurdish region, he said.

"As Yazidis, just like Christians, we have the constitutional right... to practice our customs, to sell, import and consume alcoholic beverages," he said.

]]> Fri, 23 MAY 2025 02:30:03 AEST Subscribe to our daily selection of space, military, environment and energy newsletters responseText http://visitor.constantcontact.com/manage/optin/ea?v=0016gbbKsaiGSpQFojVO8ZoHw%3D%3D