Wasit to build memorial, grant land to families of Kut fire victims

WASIT — The Wasit Provincial Council on Tuesday voted to grant residential plots to the families of victims killed in the July 17 shopping mall fire in Kut and approved converting the site of the blaze into a permanent memorial.

“In today’s session, the council voted by absolute majority to grant each martyr of the Kut hypermarket incident a residential plot within the city limits,” the council said in a statement. “It also approved purchasing the land where the hypermarket stood to build a memorial that honors the victims and reflects the scale of the tragedy that struck the people of the governorate.”

The fire at a shopping center in Kut killed 61 people and triggered public outrage. Relatives of the victims began nightly protests outside the governorate building, escalating to an open-ended sit-in on July 22 to demand the dismissal and prosecution of local officials.

The following day, Wasit Governor Mohammed Jameel Al-Mayahy submitted his resignation, citing solidarity with the victims’ families. “In honor of the martyrs’ blood… I proudly announce my resignation to the Wasit Provincial Council, and it has been accepted by the esteemed council,” he said.

The council held an emergency session the same day and voted to accept the resignation. “Out of respect for the blood of the martyrs and to maintain the governorate’s stability and keep our people away from political conflicts, the council accepted the resignation by absolute majority,” it said in a statement.

Al-Mayahy stepped down one day after Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani endorsed the findings of an investigative committee, which called for further investigation into the governor and members of the local civil defense committee.

Following his resignation, the council elected Hadi Majid Kazzar as the new governor.