Press Release
Lost Sovereignty and Parties Fighting Over Positions While the Care of the Ummah Is Not Among Their Concerns
(Translated)

At the time when the ruling parties are preparing to compete in the elections and its spoils scheduled to be held on November 11 of this year, special formations, tanks, and armored vehicles, at dawn on Friday, 22/08/2025, surrounded the Lalezar Hotel in the center of Sulaymaniyah and stormed it, to carry out the arrest operation of the head of the Jabhat Ash-Sha’ab Party, Lahur Sheikh Jangi. After violent armed clashes that lasted for long hours between the Counter-Terrorism Forces and the Special Forces (Commandos) and the “Asayish,” the security forces linked to the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan on one side, and the guards of Sheikh Jangi on the other side, it ended with the arrest of Lahur and his brother Pulad, resulting in deaths and injuries.

This operation was not the first, as it was preceded by other similar operations; on 12/08/2025, the “Asayish” units carried out an arrest operation of the most prominent leaders of the opposing liberal civil current, most notably Shaswar Abdullah, leader of the New Generation Movement. At the same time, the arrest operations also affected similar civilian figures after a judicial arrest warrant was issued under the pretext of “disturbing security” by the Sulaymaniyah court.

What happened in Sulaymaniyah is happening throughout Iraq, and its cause is the conflict and scramble for positions after they savored illicit money, harnessing the country’s resources for their personal interests, with the aim of weakening, neutralizing, or even excluding and liquidating opponents. Every day, the names of those enslaved are announced from the elections under the pretext of the De-Ba’athification Law, corruption files, and other pretexts, as happened—for example, but not limited to—with Abdul Ghani Al-Asadi, who held the position of Governor of Dhi Qar, and the position of Head of the National Security Service, as well as working as Commander of the Counter-Terrorism Forces. So where was this law when he assumed all these positions?!

And all of this is happening while Iraq is living in a state of chaos, fear, and anxiety, and in the confiscation of the alleged sovereignty due to the intervention of America and its threats to prevent voting on the Popular Mobilization Law adopted by the Coordination Framework forces, which did not dare to pass it until now, and are trying to throw the ball into the court of the opposing parties exploiting the feelings of their supporters, although they are able to vote on it because they have the majority in parliament. News sources published the statement of Member of Parliament Hadi Al-Salami that the withdrawal of the draft law of the Popular Mobilization Authority came after a meeting of the Coordination Framework, indicating that the Prime Minister implemented the decision of the meeting without re-submitting the law until now, and he pointed out the absence of clear will among the leaders of the Framework to pass the law despite the completion of the first and second readings, claiming that the reason for that is due to the dispute over positions.

O Muslims in Iraq: All successive governments that ruled Iraq since its occupation in 2003 have abandoned sovereignty and care, and became preoccupied with serving the occupier, struggling for power, and racing to seize the country’s resources and wealth by all cheap and despicable means. Therefore, there is no honor for us and no salvation except by uprooting this filth and purifying the country from it, and changing this rotten system imposed by the American occupier, and establishing the Khilafah (Caliphate) on the method of the Prophethood upon its ruins.

It is to this honor and this dignified life that Hizb ut Tahrir, the pioneer that does not lie to its people, calls you. So respond to the command of your Lord:

[يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا اسْتَجِيبُوا لِلَّهِ وَلِلرَّسُولِ إِذَا دَعَاكُمْ لِمَا يُحْيِيكُمْ وَاعْلَمُوا أَنَّ اللَّهَ يَحُولُ بَيْنَ الْمَرْءِ وَقَلْبِهِ وَأَنَّهُ إِلَيْهِ تُحْشَرُونَ]

“O you who have believed, respond to Allah and to the Messenger when he calls you to that which gives you life. And know that Allah intervenes between a man and his heart and that to Him you will be gathered.” [Al-Anfal: 24].

Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir in Wilayah Iraq