Representative Rafiq Hashem Al-Salhi issued a strongly worded statement in which he denounced the statements attributed to the Director of the Basra Municipality, Firas Abdul Khaleq, describing them as including unjustified insults to the officials and those in charge of managing the Zubair District, and accusations of functional inaction and disavowal of responsibility for the difficult service reality in which the judiciary is experiencing.
Al-Salhi said that holding the Zubair administration responsible for suffering that has accumulated over long years of institutional neglect “is not consistent with the requirements of administrative work nor with the ethics of public service,” considering that this speech reflects an attempt to evade responsibility through exchanging accusations instead of addressing service problems within legal and institutional frameworks.
He added that the “discriminatory and racist overtones” contained in the statements are completely unacceptable, and contradict the Iraqi Constitution, which guarantees the principle of citizenship and equality, and prohibits any form of regional or social discrimination.
Al-Salhi also categorically rejected what he described as “veiled disdain” for Al-Zubair district, especially the statement that Al-Zubair “will not be a governorate,” stressing that the creation of governorates or modifying the administrative status of districts is subject exclusively to the provisions of the constitution and applicable laws, and no executive official has the right to confiscate this entitlement or reduce it.
He explained that the Zubair district is not suffering because of its cadres or local administration, but rather as a result of the accumulation of neglect, poor planning, and lack of coordination between the institutions concerned, warning that reducing the crisis to individuals or underestimating the status of the judiciary and its administrative future will lead to the complexity of the crisis and increase street congestion.
Al-Salhi concluded his statement by stressing that, in coordination with the officials and administration of the Zubair judiciary, he will act judicially and in a deterrent manner against these statements, due to the abuse, defamation, discrimination, and constitutional violation they entail, stressing that this comes “to preserve the prestige of the state and safeguard the rights of Zubair and its children, and to consolidate the principle that public office is a responsibility and not a tool for defamation or exclusion.”
