Watch: Amid civil strife, Iraqi protester ‘thanks’ former porn star Mia Khalifa for ‘comforting’ him
Yemen-born US-based former porn star Mia Khalifa has earned her fair share of criticism in her home country Yemen, she seems to have found a new fan in Iraq.
Among the angry protesters in Basra, where protesters burned down the Iranian consulate, one young man was scene carrying her poster and said she had ‘comforted him’ more than any politician, claiming that the legislators were incapable of even providing basic amenities like water, electricity and sanitation, reports dnaindia.com.
Currently, Khalifa works as a journalist hosting a sports show.
She was born in Beirut, Lebanon and moved to the United States of America when she was 10. In 2014, she became the number 1 porn star in the world according to Pornhub.com, and this despite being in the industry for a very short period of time. Her ranking kicked off quite a controversy and she was vehemently attacked on Twitter for her career. Her attackers even sent her some death threats including a photo-shopped image of her along with ISIS Jihadi John.
Watch the video below:
Civil unrest fuelled by anger against perceived corruption and misrule by Iraq’s political elite intensified across the south of the country on Friday, as protesters stormed the Iranian consulate in Basra while others briefly took workers hostage at a nearby oilfield.
After five days of deadly demonstrations in Basra in which government buildings have been ransacked and set alight, protesters broke in and damaged the consulate’s offices, shouting condemnation of what many perceive as Iran’s sway over Iraq’s political affairs.
Security sources said the consulate was empty when the crowd burst in. Iraq’s Foreign Ministry said the storming of the consulate, which it deeply regretted, had nothing to do with protesters’ demands.
‘The targeting of diplomatic missions is unacceptable and detrimental to the interests of Iraq,’ said ministry spokesman Ahmed Mahjoub.
Iran, however, blamed Iraq for failing to protect its embassy and said it expected Baghdad to ‘identify and punish the attackers quickly,’ Bahram Qassemi, the spokesman for the ministry, told journalists, according to state media.
The Iraqi ambassador to Tehran was later summoned to the foreign ministry over the complaints.
Several foreign governments have consulates in the city, including the United States and Russia.
In a statement, the US State Department condemned the violence against diplomats and called on ‘all parties, including security forces and protesters, to uphold the right of peaceful protest and to protect diplomats and their facilities.’
Late in the day some 65 kilometers north-west of Iraq’s second biggest city, another group of protesters entered a water treatment facility linked to the West Qurna 2 oilfield, managed by Russia’s Lukoil.
Oil prices were steady on Friday, with US crude slipping on weak global equity markets while Brent inched up on geopolitical factors, including violent protests in Iraq.
US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures settled down 2 cents at $67.75 per barrel. Brent crude futures settled up 33 cents at $76.83 a barrel.
The protesters held two Iraqi employees hostage for about an hour before leaving the facility peacefully, according to a Lukoil source and a source with Basra’s energy police. Production was not disrupted, a manager at the oilfield said.
The unrest in Basra could have deeper implications for a country that imports most of its food.
Since Thursday, protesters have shut Iraq’s only major sea port at Umm Qasr, 60 km (40 miles) south of Basra. It remained shut on Friday, local officials and security sources said, although oil exports, carried out from offshore platforms, have not been affected.