Iraqi MP Sees Foreign Hands in Recent Protests in Al-Anbar Province

A number of foreign states are funding and supporting the recent protests and unrests in Iraq’s al-Anbar province, a senior Iraqi legislator warned on Monday.

“The goal of the recent protests in Iraq is drowning the country and this plot is orchestrated by the foreign states,” Jamal al-Batikh told FNA.

He also cautioned that certain opposition lawmakers joined the plot and entered a regional and international game against Iraq.

Meantime, Batikh underlined that Iraq’s Constitution allows protest rallies and the government is, thus, required to take action to meet the demands of protestors and resolve their problems.

His remarks came after reports from Iraq said last week that several regional states, including Qatar, have paid $100 to each participant in protest rallies in al-Anbar province in support of Iraqi Finance Minister Rafia al-Issawi, whose bodyguards have been arrested on terrorism charges last month.

Iraq’s al-Nakhil news agency quoted a security official as saying on Wednesday that after the arrest of Issawi’s bodyguards, several groups affiliated to the regional states, specially Qatar, paid huge sums to their sympathizers in Anbar, Salaheddin and Nineveh provinces to stage rallies against the Iraqi government.

Ouraq al-Khalij newspaper also informed in its Wednesday edition that Doha is staunchly supporting Issawi for taking the leadership of Sunni protestors in Iraq.

The paper said Qatari officials had contacted a large number of their agents and hirelings in Iraq in recent days to coordinate the protests, adding that even the mottoes chanted against Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki government have been dictated by Doha.
The protesters in al-Anbar province have blocked off the key trade highway since December 23, following the arrest of Issawi’s bodyguards on terrorism charges.

The demonstrators allege that the arrests were made on sectarian grounds and demand the release of the detainees.