Al-Halboosi criticizes protests in front of SJC building

Shafaq News / Iraq's Parliament Speaker, Mohammed al-Halboosi, criticized the recent escalation that took place in front of the Supreme Judicial Council building in Baghdad.

Al-Halboosi said in a tweet, "we support demonstrations held based on legal and constitutional means, in a way that preserves and protects the state and its institutions."

"Our problem should not be with the judiciary, to which we all resort when there are differences between us", he added.

Later on, al-Halboosi issued a statement in which he said, "We participated in the elections last year following a wave of protests calling for changing the government and holding an early election."

"We aimed to fix the situation and make space for new parties to get involved in the political process", he said, noting that the situation has worsened, especially after halting the constitutional institutions' work.

For its part, the Iraqi Bar association announced full support for the Iraqi judiciary, and issued a statement in which it said that although it supports the demonstrators' demands, "verdicts should be issued according to legal visions and not through pressuring the independent judiciary."

"We fully support the Iraqi judiciary, and we will suspend the work of the Iraqi Bar Association as well", the statement added, "all political parties must be aware of the danger resulting from leaving the independence of the judiciary unprotected. This will lead to losing a fundamental pillar of building a constitutional state."

The Iraqi Judicial authority decided to suspend its work on Tuesday following the Sadrist supporters' protests that began earlier today in front of the Supreme Judicial council building.

The authority said in a statement that the council and the Federal Supreme court convened today morning following the protest, noting that it was decided to suspend all judicial activities in the country in protest against such "unconstitutional acts and violations of the law".

The statement held the government and the political party standing behind the demonstration full responsibility for this protest's consequences.

Earlier today, supporters of the Sadrist movement protested in front of the Supreme Judicial council building.

The demonstrators called for implementing the demands of the powerful Shiite leader Muqtada al-Sadr, including dissolving the Parliament to hold an early parliamentary election.