Iraq’s Supreme Judicial Council chief justice Zaidan meets new intelligence chief

BAGHDAD — Supreme Judicial Council President Faiq Zaidan met the newly appointed head of the National Security Service, Bassem al-Badri, on Tuesday to discuss coordination between the judiciary and the agency on investigations within its remit, the council said.

In a statement, the council said Zaidan had received Badri after his appointment, congratulated him on the post, and that the two discussed working together on cases falling under the service’s jurisdiction. It gave no indication whether any specific investigation was discussed and no detail on what the meeting decided.

The talks come days into a sweeping anti-corruption campaign in which security forces, acting on judicial warrants, have detained current and former officials and searched properties tied to corruption investigations. The government has called it the first phase of a wider effort, and state media has named several of those held.

Political leaders across Iraq’s spectrum, among them Muqtada al-Sadr, Nouri al-Maliki and Khamis al-Khanjar, have voiced support over the past two days.