High death toll and Barzani calls on the international community to help Baghdad and Erbil

The head of the Kurdistan region in northern Iraq, Nechirvan Barzani, said on Sunday that the popular protests sweeping Iraq since last month are affecting the region, calling on Washington and the international community to help Baghdad and Erbil.

A statement issued by the Presidency of the Kurdistan Region during a meeting with Barzani, National Security Adviser in the US Senate Robert Karem, who is visiting Erbil on an unlimited visit, that Barzani and Karem discussed the latest developments in Iraq and the region and ways to deal with them, stressing the need for Iraq to security and political stability Security and a proper understanding of the legitimate demands of protesters and renounce violence.

The statement quoted Barzani as stressing that the Kurdistan region wants to resolve all its differences with the Iraqi federal government through dialogue and understanding on the basis of the Iraqi constitution.

Barzani added that the situation in Iraq and the demonstrations and events taking place in Baghdad and other provinces affect the Kurdistan region, pointing to the need to provide the United States and the international community to help Iraq and the region.

A delegation from the Kurdistan region had held, Saturday, talks in Baghdad on the outstanding differences between them such as oil exports and the financial budget of the country and how to manage the disputed areas between the two sides. The talks are scheduled to be completed on Monday.

In a parallel context, security sources and witnesses said that the death toll of clashes between demonstrators and Iraqi security forces rose to 12 during the past 24 hours in the capital Baghdad and the provinces of Dhi Qar and Basra.

The sources added that the cause of the deaths among the protesters is the security forces fired live bullets and tear gas canisters.

Arrest warrant
Sources said that the demonstrators closed a number of streets of the city and its main intersections, as well as the Italian bridge linking the center of the province and the Shatt al-Arab district adjacent to Iran. The closures included roads leading from the Zubayr district to the Barjasiyah oil site.

In Nasiriyah (the center of Dhi Qar province) in southern Iraq, local sources and witnesses said that four demonstrators were killed last night in clashes with security forces.

Protesters and clans with dead demonstrations in the province gave the new police chief 48 hours to leave the province and leave his post.

On the other hand, the Integrity Commission in Iraq issued a warrant for the arrest of Ahmed al-Jubouri, the current deputy and former governor of the province of Salah al-Din.

The commission said in a statement that the order was issued against the backdrop of a case investigated and referred to the judiciary, because of the violations committed by al-Jubouri during his work as governor of Salah al-Din.

The statement said that the Central Anti-Corruption Court issued an arrest warrant after al-Jubouri was absent from the trial to face the charges against him.

The Commission has recently issued a subpoena against al-Jubouri against the back of the disbursement of funds for purposes other than allocated to it during the period of taking office as governor, according to the statement of the Commission.

Jubouri was arrested in 2017 on charges of seizing state-owned land and registering it on behalf of a private company, but was acquitted by the judiciary and reinstated as governor.

Al-Jubouri continued his position as governor until he was elected deputy in the 2018 elections.

The judiciary has issued numerous decisions to summon and arrest state officials in recent weeks in an effort to quell anti-government protests and corruption.