Iraq .. Parliament accepts the resignation of the government and the judiciary issued the first death sentence in cases of repression

The Iraqi parliament voted in favor of accepting the resignation of Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi in light of the protests in the country for two months, while the pace of prosecution of leaders and officials accused of being behind the killing and suppression of the demonstrators.

Parliament opened its session on Sunday afternoon and approved the resignation of Abdul Mahdi within minutes, making his government a caretaker government in accordance with the Constitution.

Parliament Speaker Mohammed al-Halbousi said he would address President Barham Saleh in order to appoint a new prime minister.

Following the resignation, the "Sairon" bloc, backed by Sadr's leader Muqtada al-Sadr, the largest bloc in parliament, held a news conference in which she said she had informed the president of her abdication of nominating a prime minister.

The bloc called on the Iraqi judiciary to try Abdul-Mahdi, his ministers and security leaders on charges of killing demonstrators.

Sentenced to death
In the meantime, a judicial source for the island that the Criminal Court of Wasit province in southern Iraq today sentenced to death a police officer at the rank of a major convicted of killing protesters, the first sentence of its kind since the start of the wave of protests in which more than 400 people were killed and thousands wounded.

The same court sentenced another lieutenant colonel to seven years in prison after he was found guilty of wrongdoing and crimes against demonstrators in the province.

The verdicts were issued in a lawsuit filed by the families of two of the seven killed by live bullets on November 2 in the city of Kut, central province of Wasit.

Arrest warrant
Earlier in the day, the Supreme Judicial Council in Iraq issued a warrant for the arrest of the former military commander in the southern province of Dhi Qar, Jamil al-Shammari, who is accused of being behind the issuance of orders that caused the killing of demonstrators in Dhi Qar province.

This morning, protesters set fire to the house of Jamil al-Shammari in Diwaniya (south).

Shammari was relieved of his post two days after he was ordered by outgoing Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi over the killing of 35 protesters and wounding more than 200 in clashes between security forces and demonstrators in the center of the city of Nasiriyah, Dhi Qar province.

Mourning marches
Thousands of Iraqis took part in mourning rallies to protest victims in several provinces, and protests continued in Baghdad and other cities, where protesters saw the resignation of Abdul Mahdi as not a complete departure of the political system.

In Baghdad, the Tahrir and Khelani squares have seen hundreds of school and university students flock to the protests since the morning. Most black protesters wore mourning for the dead in the previous two days.

The capital Baghdad witnessed the closure of road demonstrators and burning tires, to prevent access to employees and school students and universities to their workplaces.

Local sources in Najaf province in southern Iraq said that a security force from Baghdad arrived to maintain security in the province, especially in the vicinity of the shrine of Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim, where the protests are still ongoing after the failure of all mediation of clerics and tribal leaders to prevent demonstrators from storming the shrine in search of a suspect. Inside their basements, accusing them of shooting at protesters.

The center of the city of Nasiriyah, a demonstration of hundreds of professors and university students and tribal leaders to emphasize the peacefulness of their sit-ins.

Tribal and tribal leaders entered the line in Nassiriya on Saturday, where witnesses said that the leaders raised their weapons and entered the demonstration yards to protect protesters and government buildings and control security, to prevent the spread of unrest and clashes with security forces.

Meanwhile, Baghdad Governor Mohammed al-Atta declared three days of mourning for the deaths of demonstrations across Iraq, especially in the southern provinces of Dhi Qar and Najaf.

The provinces of Dhi Qar, Najaf, Karbala, Babil, Diwaniya, Wasit, Diyala and Muthanna have announced the disruption of official working hours and mourning three days on the victims killed in the provinces of Najaf and Dhi Qar recently.

In Basra province, demonstrators continue to block roads leading to a number of crude oil production fields.

North governorates
Al-Jazeera Net correspondent said that hundreds of students from predominantly Sunni provincial universities, especially Nineveh, are constantly on strike and gathering in university yards, wearing black to mourn the victims in Najaf and Dhi Qar despite being prevented by security forces.

He also announced at the University of Fallujah in Anbar province (west of the country) to organize a mourning for the lives of those killed in recent demonstrations.

Thousands of people gathered in the provinces of Anbar, Salah al-Din, Nineveh and Diyala on Friday night, declaring their support for the protests in the center and south of the country, denouncing the suppression of security forces demonstrations.