An Iraqi appeals panel that angered Shi'ite parties by suspending a ban on candidates accused of links to Saddam Hussein's Baath party until after an election reversed its decision on Sunday, politicians conveyed. According to Reuters, this development came as Shi'ite parties held protests and vowed to purge Baath loyalists.
The panel agreed it had made a mistake thinking it needed to consider the entire list of some 500 candidates instead of just 177 politicians who appealed, said Falah Shanshal, a senior lawmaker. It will examine the appeals before the vote, he added.
"We should not stand here with our hands tied during this sensitive period. We should take revenge for our martyrs, prisoners, the displaced and the homeless left by the former regime," Baghdad provincial governor Salah Abdul-Razzaq, a senior member of Prime Minister Nuri Maliki's Dawa party, told protesters. "We will de-Baathify the Baghdad administration," he said.
