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Clare:  The Central Bank issues two decisions to support the dinar against the dollar

7/20/2023

  The Central Bank of Iraq announced, today, Thursday, that it had taken "two urgent decisions" to enhance the ability of the Iraqi dinar in front of foreign currencies to circulate within the country.

And the Central Bank media stated in a statement received by {Euphrates News} that "the collection of all cash insurances shall be in the dinar currency exclusively with regard to internal credits, bank guarantees, and letters of guarantee issued in favor of the beneficiaries (governmental and private), even if they are in the dollar currency and at the official exchange rate." 

He added, "It was decided that the payment of the sums of the letters of guarantee upon confiscation be exclusively in the Iraqi dinar and at the official exchange rate." 

The Iraqi Central Bank called, according to the statement, "all licensed banks to take the necessary measures in accordance with the above."   LINK

Clare:  Iraq cuts diplomatic relations with Sweden

7/20/2023

The Iraqi government decided, on Thursday, to withdraw its Chargé d'Affaires in Stockholm, and expel the Swedish ambassador from the country's lands, in protest against allowing a demonstration in which the Qur'an was torn and burned for the second time.

The government spokesman, Basem Al-Awadi, said in a statement today that the Prime Minister, Muhammad Shia'a Al-Sudani, directed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to withdraw the Iraqi Chargé d'Affairs from the Embassy of the Republic of Iraq in the Swedish capital, Stockholm. 

He also directed a request from the Swedish ambassador in Baghdad to leave Iraqi territory, in response to the repeated permission of the Swedish government to burn the Noble Qur’an, insult Islamic sanctities and burn the Iraqi flag, according to Al-Awadi.    LINK

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Clare:  Al-Sadr's supporters burn the Swedish embassy.. The Foreign Ministry denounces and Stockholm holds the Iraqi authorities responsible

7/19/2023

The Swedish embassy in Baghdad was set on fire at dawn, Thursday, during a demonstration organized by supporters of the leader of the Sadrist movement, Muqtada al-Sadr, on the eve of a gathering in Sweden in front of the Iraqi embassy whose organization intends to burn a copy of the Quran.

The attack on the Swedish embassy in Baghdad came after the Swedish police allowed the organization of a small gathering in front of the Iraqi embassy in Stockholm, where the organizer intends to burn a copy of the Koran and the Iraqi flag on Thursday.

For its part, the Iraqi Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned in a statement "in the strongest terms" the burning of the Embassy of the Kingdom of Sweden in Baghdad, calling for the launch of an "urgent investigation" into the incident.

The statement stated that "the Iraqi government instructed the competent security authorities to conduct an urgent investigation and take the necessary security measures with the aim of uncovering the circumstances of the incident and identifying the perpetrators of this act and holding them accountable according to the law."

And Silwan Momica, who wants to burn the Qur’an in Sweden today, Thursday, is an Iraqi refugee there, and on June 28 he also burned pages of a copy of the Qur’an in front of the largest mosque in Stockholm on Eid al-Adha.

In response to the storming of its embassy, ​​the Swedish Foreign Ministry said: We condemn all attacks on diplomats and staff of international organizations. All employees of our embassy in Baghdad are safe and the ministry is in regular contact with them.

She added that the attacks on embassies and diplomats constitute a serious violation of the Vienna Convention, and the Iraqi authorities bear the responsibility to protect diplomatic missions and their personnel.   LINK

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Clare:  Iraq.. The Communications and Media Commission suspends the license of the Swedish Ericsson Telecom Company

7/20/2023

Baghdad - 

Today, Thursday, the Iraqi Media and Communications Authority announced the suspension of the license to operate the Swedish company Ericsson for communications in Iraqi territory.

The commission said in a statement, which Mawazine News received a copy of, that "the head of the Media and Communications Commission, Ali al-Moayyed, suspended the license to operate the Swedish Ericsson Telecom Company in Iraqi territory because its country allowed the burning of the Holy Qur'an and the Iraqi flag."

The media office of the prime minister announced in a statement that the latter "directs the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to withdraw the Iraqi Chargé d'Affaires from the Embassy of the Republic of Iraq in the Swedish capital, Stockholm. He also instructed the Swedish ambassador in Baghdad to leave Iraqi territory, in response to the repeated permission of the Swedish government to burn the Holy Qur'an, insult Islamic sanctities, and burn the Iraqi flag."

Earlier, Al-Sudani chaired an emergency meeting against the background of granting the Swedish government a license to burn the Qur’an, and the incident of burning the Swedish embassy in Baghdad.

The Swedish authorities summoned the Iraqi charge d'affairs in the country, following the burning of its embassy in Baghdad, in protest against Sweden's granting of approval to burn the Qur'an in front of the Iraqi embassy in Stockholm.   LINK

Clare:  After the US sanctions... Exchange company guards shoot journalists in central Baghdad

7/20/2023

The Journalistic Freedoms Observatory reported, on Thursday, that the guards of an exchange company shot two journalists in the center of the capital, Baghdad, wounding one of them and detaining his brother, after a US decision to impose sanctions on Iraqi banks.

The Observatory said, in a statement received by Shafaq News Agency, that the security forces of an exchange company opened fire on journalists in central Baghdad today, Thursday, during a live broadcast of Iraq 24 channel, which is specialized in economic affairs.

The observatory quoted Hassan Nabil, the channel's correspondent, as saying that the staff of Iraq 24 channel in Baghdad were subjected to beatings and gunshots by the protection of Al-Taif Exchange Company during live coverage in front of the company's building in Karrada, after the issuance of US sanctions against 14 Iraqi banks, including Al-Taif Bank.

Nabil added that he was detained inside the bank before being transferred to Al-Masbah police station, in addition to his brother Musa Nabil being shot in the hand when he was trying to protect him from the assault of the company's security personnel, and the photographer, Hassan Nabil, had bruises in parts of his body.

Nabil told Al-Marsad that he is currently at Al-Masbah police station in the capital to file a lawsuit against the bank's management.

This comes at a time when the Iraqi Observatory for Journalistic Freedoms had called on the security services to stop using violence against journalists and avoid arbitrarily arresting and detaining them on charges of "forbidden photography" despite having identity cards.    LINK

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Clare:  It has been suspended for more than 10 years.. Parliament announces the activation of the Article 140 Committee, according to a political agreement

7/20/2023

Today, Thursday (July 20, 2023), the Second Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Shakhwan Abdullah, announced the reactivation of the temporary committee formed in the House of Representatives to follow up the work of the Article 140 Committee of the Constitution, while pointing out that this committee has been suspended for more than 10 years.

Abdullah said in a press conference held with the participation of members of Parliamentary Committee 140, followed by "Baghdad Today", that "the temporary committee formed in the House of Representatives to follow up on the work of the Article 140 Committee of the Constitution, which has been suspended for more than 10 years, was activated after the agreement of the political blocs and support for the activation of this article."

He added, "There are thousands of transactions from those affected by the policies of the defunct regime within the framework of Article 140. We noticed through representatives of the governorates that there are many files, and the truth is that the amount allocated for compensation by the government in the 2023 budget is a very small amount."

And Abdullah continued, "The committee needs to complete its tasks to four trillion. Only 100 billion dinars have been allocated, and after efforts, another 100 billion were transferred to become the amount of 200 billion. This amount needs to be organized for how compensation reaches those included in the article. A mechanism has been established for the work of the committee, and there are regular weekly meetings for the work of Committee 140 to push for its real activation and completion of its tasks."

And he pointed out, "One of the tasks of the committee is also the necessary legislation and the abolition of the decisions of the Revolutionary Command Council that are unfair to the rights of the people of many provinces."

Abdullah concluded, "We thank the efforts of the government that voted on a draft law to cancel the decisions of the Revolutionary Command Council. The committee will have its first tasks to seek to receive the draft law from the government and approve it to ensure the restoration of farmers' rights. There will be a mechanism in cooperation with the government committee to reach citizens' dues in all governorates because there are southern governorates that did not receive compensation in addition to the governorates of Kirkuk, Diyala and Nineveh."

Yesterday, Wednesday (July 19, 2023), the former deputy of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, Hassan Ali, criticized the exploitation of the problems of "Article 140" as the elections approached. Stressing that its solution "lies only through the constitution."

In an exclusive interview with "Baghdad Today," Alli seemed surprised by "exploiting the problems of the politically disputed regions with the approach of each new election cycle," considering that "delaying the implementation of the article does not mean at all that it has ended in a constitutional article."

The aforementioned constitutional article does not fall away with time, according to the Kurdish MP. Which confirms that "these areas must be private by the federal government."

The speaker acknowledges the continuation of the problems of the disputed areas, and links their solution exclusively to the "constitution," noting that "the mobilization of politicians will continue with every electoral process."

Yesterday, Wednesday (July 19, 2023), he announced the formation of a political alliance that includes 13 Kurdish parties to participate in the provincial elections in the disputed areas, without including the Kurdistan Democratic Party and the Kurdistan Islamic Union.  LINK