Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi’s political advisor, Mashreq Abbas vowed on Tuesday that the perpetrators behind the attempt on the PM’s life will be brought to justice.
In a tweet, he said: “We will never back down from bringing the terrorists, who tried to assassinate the prime minister, to justice.”
Shortly after Sunday’s drone attack, Kadhimi said his government “knows very well” who was behind the assassination attempt, vowing that they will be uncovered.
Abbas made his tweet hours after the president, prime minister and head of the judiciary met with the so-called “Coordination Framework.” The Framework is a grouping of pro-Iran Shiite factions that were on the losing end of last month’s parliamentary elections.
The factions had been staging protests for days in an attempt to reverse the results of the polls that they claimed were rigged. They have not provided evidence of their claims. Tensions had mounted between the protesters and security forces ahead of the attempt on Kadhimi’s life, with clashes leaving dozens injured.
Observers speculated that Abbas’ tweet may have been a response to the outcome of the meeting with the Coordination Framework. A statement issued at the end of the talks may have been interpreted as an attempt to sidestep the attack on the PM.
Informed sources at the meeting said the talks did not reach tangible results over main issues that were on the table, starting with the clashes that took place between supporters of the pro-Iran factions and security forces, the attempt on Kadhimi’s life and the stance from the results of the elections.
This means Iraq is headed towards further political deadlock, especially since factions from the Framework have been openly accused of carrying out the assassination attempt.
Some political circles revealed that the PM had, through a political figure, sent a strongly-worded message to some of the complicit parties in the attack, vowing that he will pursue them no matter the cost.
The statement issued after the meeting with the Coordination Framework condemned “the crime that targeted protesters and stressed the need to continue relevant investigations to bring those involved to justice.”
Two people were killed and dozens injured in last week’s clashes between supporters of the pro-Iran factions and security forces.
The attack on the prime minister came second in importance in the closing statement. It said that it rejects and condemns the attack on the PM’s residence, stressing the need for an investigation to uncover the perpetrators and hold them to account.
It urged the need to ease tensions and end the media incitement by all parties. It called for reassuring the Iraqi people and easing their concerns.
The statement tackled the need to reach a “legal approach to the crisis of the biased elections results so that the trust of all parties can be restored in the voting process.”
It called for a “national meeting to discuss ways to resolve this difficult crisis. All parties underscored their keenness on civil peace and the need to address pending issues through legal and political frameworks.”
What the “legal framework” is remains to be seen. Iraq’s electoral commission said Monday that a manual vote recount in some polling stations where complaints were filed by pro-Iran groups did not show any “fraud”. The electoral commission said in a statement that a manual vote recount at 4,324 polling stations indicated no irregularities.
It appears as though the members of the Coordination Framework are divided over how to address the current crisis over the elections results, attack on the PM and clashes between protesters and security forces.
A visit by Iran’s Quds Force chief, Esmail Ghaani, to Baghdad on Monday has not helped resolve these differences, while some factions have questioned the assassination attempt altogether.
Head of the Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq group, Qais Khazali, speculated in remarks to Al-Jazeera on Tuesday that Israel and the United States may have been behind the attack.
“We have called for an accurate technical investigation in the evidence” found in the attack against the PM, he added.
He rejected accusations that some pro-Iran factions, including his own, were involved in the attack.
“We reject such accusations, which have prompted us to demand a trusted investigation,” he stressed.
Meanwhile, Hadi al-Ameri, head of the Fatah alliance that includes the majority of the pro-Iran factions, called on Tuesday for media calm and allowing the judiciary to carry out probes into the protest clashes and attack on Kadhimi.
“We all trust the judiciary, its fairness and courage. We hope everyone would remain calm because the situation in Iraq cannot tolerate more escalation,” he said.
