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Iraq
Supporters of Iraq's Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) rally in Baghdad's Tahrir square on January 3, 2021 to mark one year after a US drone strike killed PMF leader Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis and Iran's Qasem Soleimani. File photo: Ahmad al-Rubaye/AFP
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — A Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) leader on Friday slammed the United States decision to sanction the force’s chief of staff, state media reported.
Falih al-Fayyadh, himself sanctioned by the US last week, criticized sanctions on PMF chief of staff Abd al-Aziz Malluh Mirjirash al-Mohammedawi, also known as Abu Fadak.
“The United States of America, which establishes itself as the guardian of the world, following its habit of violating the sovereignty of states and violating the dignity of peoples, recently included the name of the Chief of Staff Abu Fadak al-Mohammedawi on the so-called ‘American sanctions list,’ violating the sovereignty of Iraq and belittling the government and its official institutions and decisions of the Iraqi Parliament,” Fayyadh told Iraqi state media on Friday.
He pointed out that the PMF fought the Islamic State (ISIS) and are part of Iraq’s official armed forces, taking orders from the prime minister.
“What is cynical is to classify as terrorists those who faced terrorism and made huge sacrifices and fought the fiercest battles on behalf of the world,” Fayyadh said, referring to the war against ISIS.
The US Treasury added Mohammedawi to the Specially Designated Nationals And Blocked Persons List of “individuals and companies owned or controlled by, or acting for or on behalf of, targeted countries” on Wednesday.
The spokesperson for Asaib Ahl al-Haq, a member of the PMF, also criticized the decision to sanction Mohammedawi, saying in a tweet early Thursday morning, “If the evil American administration believes that the inclusion of PMF chief of staff Hajj Abu Fadak on its sanctions list is something that will weaken the PMF, then it is delusional, because our PMF grows stronger whenever America and its bastard Israel target it. The PMF that defeated terrorism will not care about the makers of terror and their miserable punishments.”
Fayyadh, head of Popular Mobilization Council (PMC), a board created by the Iraqi government to bring the PMF under central government control, was sanctioned by the US on January 8, accused of connections to “serious human rights abuse” in Iraq’s popular protests that began in October 2019.
Other senior members of the PMF, including Asaib Ahl al-Haq leader Qais al-Khazali, have been subject to similar US sanctions.
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