The caretaker Prime Minister who arrived in Egypt on Monday aimed at participating in the five-member summit, an attempt to intensify efforts to enhance economic integration between the five nations of UAE, Iraq, Egypt, and Jordan, including security, and joint cooperation talks, Kadhimi arrived back right away.
Kadhimi’s immediate return to Baghdad took place following a protest held by the supporters of Iraqi influential Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, pushing to enter the highest Judicial authority building in the Iraqi capital.
Sadr supporters gathered on Tuesday in front of the building of the highest judicial authority in the country, Iraq’s supreme Judicial Council, renewing the call for dissolving the Iraqi parliament and ending corruption.
The protest amid Iraq’s political turmoil compelled the Supreme Judicial Council to suspend the works, it announced in a statement, saying “The government should take responsibility for these unconstitutional and illegal behaviors”.
Prime Minister Kadhimi warned that disrupting the work of the judicial institution exposes the country to real dangers, stressing that the right to protest is constitutionally guaranteed but with the need to respect state institutions, according to a statement from PM’s office.
In the meantime calling for an immediate meeting of the leaders of political forces in order to activate the national dialogue and defuse the crisis.
Iraq’s Parliament Speaker, Mohammed al-Halbousi, announced in a Twitter statement on Tuesday his support for legal demonstrations but insisted, "Our dispute should not be with the judiciary, to which we all resort if we quarrel.”
The United Nations Assistance Mission to Iraq (UNAMI) also announced that while peaceful protest was a right, "State institutions must operate unimpeded.”
The Iraqi Supreme Judicial Council announced on Tuesday it was suspending operations amid the beginning of sit-in protests from the Sadrist Movement.
Supporters of Muqtada al-Sadr began setting up tents in front of the judicial council building in Baghdad.
Kadhimi traveled to Egypt’s New Alamein city on Monday for a meeting Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi was holding for the leaders of Iraq, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.
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