BAGHDAD (AP) — Dozens of Iraqi political figures have been taken into custody on corruption charges, according to a report Sunday from Iraq’s state-run Iraqi News Agency.
Authorities said the arrests stemmed from a statement given by former Deputy Minister of Oil Adnan al-Jumaili, who himself was arrested last month. The report noted that the detained individuals “included members of Parliament whose immunity had been lifted.”
Early Sunday morning, Iraqi security forces locked down all entry points to Baghdad’s heavily fortified Green Zone — the compound that serves as home to major government buildings and foreign embassies — and carried out raids throughout the area.
The state news agency later put the total number of arrests at 47, though it remained unclear whether all of those individuals were taken into custody on Sunday or whether some had been detained in earlier operations.
Officials released the names of 15 people who were arrested, among them 12 current members of Parliament, one former legislator, a former advisor to ex-Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, and another senior official from the oil ministry. Several of the arrested lawmakers were affiliated with al-Sudani’s Shiite political bloc, while others belonged to the Azm Alliance, a prominent Sunni political party.
The specific charges each individual faces were not immediately disclosed.
Al-Sudani’s political bloc secured the largest number of seats in November’s parliamentary elections, but he ultimately withdrew from contention for a new term after a stalemate within the Coordination Framework — a coalition of Shiite parties with ties to Iran that originally helped bring him to power — over who should lead the country next.
Al-Sudani was succeeded by Ali al-Zaidi, a businessman with no prior political experience, who emerged as a compromise choice and received support from the United States.
The wave of arrests is expected to have far-reaching consequences across Iraq’s fragmented political environment, where corruption allegations are often entangled with broader struggles for power and influence.
