Zionist Puppet Qatar Funding Anti-Government Protests in Iraq

Several regional states, including Qatar, have paid $100 to each participant in this week’s protest rallies in al-Anbar in support of Iraqi Finance Minister Rafia al-Issawi, whose bodyguards have been arrested on terrorism charges last month, security sources revealed on Wednesday.

Iraq’s al-Nakhil news agency quoted a security official as saying 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 has 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.

Maliki on Wednesday called upon Anbar protesters to end their demonstrations that have led to several days of blockage of a major road in the Western province of Anbar connecting Iraq to Syria and Jordan.

The Iraqi premier said the protesters should “end their strike before the state intervenes to end it.” “I warn you against continuing (blocking the highway), because this is against the Iraqi constitution. We have been very patient with you,” Almanar quoted Maliki as saying.

The protesters 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.

Maliki, however, says the bodyguards were arrested following an independent judicial inquiry based on the anti-terrorism law.