PMF leader Qassem Musleh is released, Photos show

Shafaq News/ Photos circulated on media showed, today Wednesday, Qassem Musleh, The Popular Mobilization Forces Commander, who was arrested lately, is received with hugs and kisses from a group of people wearing military uniforms.

Shafaq News Correspondent said the photos were taken near Al-Jadiriya Bridge in central Baghdad.

A source revealed that the judiciary released the PMF leader on Monday.

It is still unclear why Musleh was arrested. A security source told Shafaq Agency that he was charged in corruption and terrorism, while activists circulated on social media that Musleh was accused of killing activists in the protests.

Musleh, a prominent commander of the PMF, had close ties with the late commander of the Iranian Quds force, Qassem Soleimani, and the former Deputy Head of the PMF authority, Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis.

The arrest of the PMF leader sparked waves of anger among Shiite factions.

As a result, military vehicles of the Popular Mobilization Forces stormed the heavily-fortified Green Zone in the capital Baghdad.

Four brigades from the PMF, in addition to a security force affiliated with it, encircled sites inside the Green Zone, including the residences of PM Al-Kadhimi, Maj. Gen. Abu Ragheef, and the headquarters of the General Secretariat of the Council of Ministers.

Later, PMF withdrew its members out of the area.