Voices Behind Closed Doors - Baghdad

The three Tamimis are facing aggravated assault charges. Immediately following the squabble, Nariman asked her daughter what kind of message she wanted to convey to viewers. Whether it is stabbings or suicide bombings or throwing stones, everyone must do their part and we must unite in order for our message to be heard that we want to liberate Palestine. Earlier this month attorney Lasky told The Times of Israel that the trial, which had been slated to begin on January 31, has been twice delayed because the military prosecution had failed to hand over evidence.

Baghdad’s corridors of power

Many Palestinians see her as bravely standing up to military control over the West Bank, while Israelis accuse her family of using her as a pawn. Seventeen-year-old Palestinian Ahed Tamimi, right, arrives for the beginning of her trial in the Israeli military court at Ofer military prison in the West Bank village of Betunia, February 13, Bassem Tamimi center, the father of seventeen-year-old Palestinian Ahed Tamimi, waves as she arrives for the beginning of her trial in the Israeli military court at Ofer military prison in the West Bank village of Betunia on February 13, Nour Tamimi, second left, and her aunt Nariman Tamimi, second right, attend a hearing at the Ofer military court in the West Bank on January 1, We use cookies and other technologies to recognize your repeat visits and preferences, as well as to measure campaigns and analyze traffic.

To learn more about cookies, including how to disable them, view our Privacy Policy. Abadi's move is clearly an attempt to kill off the partisan and elite nature of Iraqi politics. The Iraqi political establishment is not satisfied with how Abadi has managed the country. One of the main complaints levelled against PM Abadi is that he previously lost many opportunities to push through reforms despite being one of the only post Iraqi leaders that had significant regional, international and domestic support.

Inside Baghdad: the current state of play

Prior to the publicity storm surrounding this cabinet reshuffle, a private secretary to a current minister told me that several ministers found it problematic that Abadi was considering removing political heavyweights who are major movers and shakers on his policies. Pre-existing frustration with Abadi and the protests combined to prompt ministers such as Oil Minister Adil Abd al-Mahdi to resign ahead of the cabinet reshuffle.

Ministerial resignations seem to be political moves to apply pressure on Abadi to take these figures more seriously. It seems that these resignations backfired.

The sixteen-member cabinet with fourteen declared nominations took everyone by surprise - an entirely unexpected move, especially the writing off of three key figures by Abadi. The removal of these heavyweights will prove challenging for Abadi.

The removal of Jaafari as FM was less surprising considering the history of internal friction between him and Abadi. A Kurdistan Regional Government official informed me that the President of the Kurdish Region of Iraq, Massoud Barzani, was not happy with the proposed changes because the two Kurdish names on Abadi's list are relatively independent. But Zebari, a heavyweight in the Kurdistan Democratic Party one of the largest groups in the Kurdish alliance coalition believes Oil Minister nominee Nizar Saleem Numan will not represent the Kurdistan bloc in the Iraqi government, since Numan is a relatively neutral figure, with no strong ties to the Kurdistan Regional Government political parties.

Last Thursday, Sadr ended the two week sit-in in front of the Green Zone officially the International Zone and left for Najaf in a fleet of 24 armoured vehicles.

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The sit-in was an escalation by Sadrists of the Baghdad protest movement. When Sadr called for Abadi to implement a technocratic government on 13 February he reinvigorated the Iraqi street to continue taking to the streets expressing their dissatisfaction with state corruption. Encouraged by the huge turnout, many independents, Sunnis, Kurds, Shias and secular Iraqis attended the revived protests; it would be reductive to portray the protestors as homogenously Sadrist.

Without a doubt, Sadr's ability to activate masses of the Shia population has caused a slant in the ethno-sectarian composition of what could be a pan-Iraqi social issue where Kurds, Sunnis and Shias have shared grievances. The Sunni bloc and Kurds are usually players in these processes, but the past week's crisis was a largely Sadrist-inspired affair. It was reported that crowds of over , Iraqis protested in Baghdad alone.

This figure almost doubled when Sadr addressed the crowds. Abadi could also minimise internal threats in his own al-Dawa party, such as his rivalry with ex-PM Nouri al-Maliki. Sadr used the popular movement to prompt Abadi to take impactful action which has previously been lacking. He called the fortified Green Zone a "bastion of support for corruption", urging anti-corruption protesters to turn up in numbers outside the Green Zone and Tahrir Square. Sadr's supporters cut through the barbed wire into the Green Zone with the guards ironically, yet unsurprisingly, aiding them.

After Abadi missed Sadr's ultimatum to propose a cabinet on the Saturday March 26 deadline, Sadr moved into the Green Zone and set up camp in protest. This became Sadr's base for all the negotiations and public speeches.

Sadr has re-entered the public limelight in a bid to rebrand himself from militia leader to a non-partisan Iraqi nationalist grass roots leader. The fact that mainly pro-Sadr protesters in Baghdad brandished Iraq flags as opposed to Shia Islamic symbols could be symptomatic of this rebranded public image. He is attempting to fill the shoes of his father by posing as a leader of the Iraqi masses and the poor.

It would hardly be an exaggeration to say that no political party in Iraq would dare clash with Muqtada al-Sadr now.

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Whether or not Sadr will use this leverage to pressure Abadi to implement genuine change is to be seen in the upcoming negotiations. Considering Abadi's reputation for indecision amongst government insiders, probably nothing will be settled soon. But some believe otherwise. Sadr has indirectly threatened to rid Iraq of the government if parliament does not approve the proposed cabinet reshuffle.

And a senior government official suggested to me that if the crisis gets serious enough, Abadi could be ousted. There are few things certain, but it is clear that Baghdad is as stuck as ever in the world of partisan politics. But the implementation of the proposed cabinet could put an end to this fragmented Iraqi polity. Last Thursday, one must conclude, was a political win for Abadi and Sadr.

Should half of the proposed cabinet reshuffle list go through, Sadr and Abadi have played their cards very well. A private source in Baghdad who has shared some of the current discussions behind closed doors, says that each political bloc in this ethno-sectarian quota system has been told to suggest three names for each of the ministries they may hold.