Hundreds in Baghdad, Basra protest Baathists’ return

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: Hundreds of people in Baghdad and Basra have taken to the streets as part of a demonstration against the return of Baathists to power. “Today, a number of chieftains, institutions and organizations in Baghdad staged a demonstration in front of the provincial building, calling on the government and Parliament not to return Baathists to power,” a media coordinator for the Political Prisoners Institution in Baghdad, Mohammed Abdulrahman, told IraqiNews.com news agency. A few days ago, the Cassation Board said it would postpone its examination of the appeals and allow candidates included in the Accountability and Justice Commission’s law to participate in the election. Parliamentary polls are scheduled to take place in Iraq on March 7, 2010. The commission had banned hundreds of candidates from running in the upcoming legislative election, citing their alleged affiliation to the dissolved Baath Party. SS (P) 2