The leader of Iraq’s Al-Fatah coalition has called on the leader of the Sadrist movement, Moqtada Al-Sadr, to rise above the comments contained in the leaked audio tapes attributed to former Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki. Al-Sadr accused the former prime minister of threatening to assassinate him. However, Hadi Al-Ameri described the leaks as an example of “media mired in inferiority.”
Speaking at Al-Ghadeer International Festival in Baghdad on Wednesday, Al-Ameri said: “I wish that our brother Muqtada Al-Sadr will rise above these recordings, and he is qualified to do so. We are thirsty for the return of lost credibility in the media, literature and art in all its forms.” The recordings, he added, are intended to “divide and destabilise.”
The Supreme Judicial Council in Iraq announced on Tuesday the opening of an investigation into the leaks after courts in Najaf, Baghdad, Basra and Dhi Qar received a number of complaints filed by lawyers and citizens. The leaks have sparked widespread outrage in the country, but Al-Maliki himself has called them “fake”.
The scandal comes at a time when Iraq is experiencing an ongoing political crisis due to sharp differences over the formation of the government.
Iraq: latest leak of recording by former PM sparks more outrage