Two Iraqi lawmakers arrested for corruption

BAGHDAD

Two Iraqi lawmakers have been arrested for corruption, the country's integrity commission said on Tuesday.

In a statement, the commission said Sadiq Madloul al-Sultan and Ahmed al-Jabouri, the former governors of the Babel and Saladin provinces, were arrested upon orders from the Central Anti-Corruption Court.

Al-Sultan faces accusations of committing irregularities by allowing imported cement into the country without tariffs when he was a governor, the commission said.

It said al-Jabouri, meanwhile, faces charges of committing irregularities in the construction of student dormitories at the University of Tikrit.

Last month, the Iraqi parliament voted to lift the parliamentary immunity of MPs accused of corruption.

According to the Transparency International Index, Iraq is one of the world's most corrupted countries over the past years where corruption and security tensions have undermined the country's institutions.

Since early October, Iraq has seen mass protests against poor living conditions and deep-seated corruption. The demands later spiraled into calls for dissolving Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi's government.

According to the Iraq's High Commission for Human Rights, at least 346 Iraqis have been killed and around 15,000 have been injured since the protests began on Oct. 1.

* Bassel Barakat contributed to this report from Ankara