Shafaq News- Diyala

The provincial council in Diyala, eastern Iraq, called on the local government on Sunday to enforce a ban on liquor shops in residential neighborhoods and to take the legal and administrative steps needed to apply it.

According to documents reviewed by Shafaq News, the council asked the provincial government to coordinate with Diyala's tourism department, which licenses liquor shops, to ensure compliance with existing regulations and keep such businesses out of residential areas.

The council's move followed a sit-in on Saturday evening by a resident of the al-Tahrir neighborhood in Baquba, the province’s capital, who protested the opening of a liquor shop next to his home and, holding a placard, demanded that the authorities move it out of the residential area.

Aws al-Mahdawi, a member of the Diyala Provincial Council, told Shafaq News that the provincial tourism authority grants licenses for liquor shops "in a near-random way," when they should be subject to strict oversight that keeps them away from homes.

Al-Mahdawi said the council voted last week to ban the shops in residential neighborhoods, and urged the authorities to apply the decision, relocate shops already operating among homes, and review the terms under which licenses are granted.