Reports have emerged that Iraq is prepared to take measures against security officials accused of conducting torture and extortion whilst they were members of an anti-corruption panel established by the former Prime Minister, Mustafa Al Kadhimi.
The government declared that the practices of torture and extortion had besmirched the operations of a special committee responsible for probing corruption in Iraq during Mr Al Kadhimi’s tenure, an allegation that surfaced on Wednesday.
In the course of its investigation, the government has proceeded with the dismissal of nine senior officials from the Interior Ministry.
Not long after his installation as interim Prime Minister in May 2020, Mr Al Kadhimi, the erstwhile intelligence director, founded what came to be referred to as Committee 29. This body was granted extraordinary powers to scrutinise significant cases of corruption.
The committee, now dissolved, was spearheaded by Lt Gen Ahmed Abu Ragheef, a high-ranking Interior Ministry official who held the position of deputy minister for intelligence and federal investigations.
The committee made numerous high-profile arrests, apprehending senior government officials and businesspersons suspected of corruption, including the former director of the pension fund, the former president of the Baghdad Investment Commission, the ex-deputy electricity minister and the erstwhile director of the privately-owned electronic payment company, Qi Card.
Critics of Mr Al Kadhimi, principally Iran-aligned Shiite political parties and militias, charged him with utilising Lt Gen Abu Ragheef’s committee as a weapon against opponents. His relations with these pro-Tehran factions were fraught as he attempted to curb their influence.
In the previous December, the incumbent Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al Sudani ordered an inquiry into supposed human rights transgressions committed by the committee following a report in The Washington Post, which claimed that it was resorting to forms of torture to extract confessions.
The government spokesperson, Basim Al Awadi, announced on Wednesday that the investigation discovered “shortcomings and human rights infringements”.
Mr Al Awadi stated that the investigation’s recommendations have been sent to the judiciary due to the “confirmed shortcomings”.
Lt Gen Abu Ragheef and eight other security officials were the only individuals mentioned by the spokesperson, along with a police officer.
An Interior Ministry official revealed to The National that three officers from the Iraqi National Intelligence Service and a civil servant from the Commission of Integrity were implicated. One suspect remains at large, according to the ministry official.
An internal report from the INIS alleges that Lt Gen Abu Ragheef “was aware of the torture and extortion during his tenure as the head of the committee and did not take any legal action”, whilst others were also complicit.
Since his appointment in late October, Mr Al Sudani has been replacing government officials with others who are closely aligned with the Co-Ordination Framework, which is the largest parliamentary group supporting him. It is the Iran-backed Shiite militias and political parties that constitute the core of the CF.
Mr Al Awadi defended the investigation, asserting that it was carried out “without any revenge or inhumane practices”.
Corruption has become a significant issue in Iraq’s political landscape following the 2003 US-led invasion that resulted in the overthrow of Saddam Hussein. The country was ranked 157 out of 180 in the 2022 Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index.
Image Credit: Qanat Al-Taghyir on Wikimedia
