The first season of the show originally aired in 1997, telling the story of Wahiba, a Baghdad nurse, as she and those around her try to navigate life in Iraq’s sanction-crippled economy of the 1990’s. The show was taken off the air shortly after, purportedly due to the unflattering image it painted of civilian life in Iraq under the Baath regime. While it resumed in 1998 it was removed from prime time.
The series was revived for a second season this year, airing on Iraqi channel Utv during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, a month during which most Middle Eastern countries broadcast a large number of new shows and seasons. The second season tackles issues Iraqi youth face today.
The new season quickly drew criticism for featuring the character of a criminal by the name of Mahdi “Mihedi” abu Salih, deemed insulting by Iraq’s Shiite community in light of the fact that the name of sect’s prophesized messiah is Imam al-Mahdi.
Mihedi, played by Iraqi actor Ghalib Jawad, is one of the main characters in both of the seasons of the show.
Saoud al-Saadi, an MP of the Huquq Movement, the political wing of the Iran-backed militia Kataib Hezbollah, on Saturday addressed a letter to the Iraqi Communications and Media Commission (CMC), calling on the body to either stop broadcasting the show entirely or cut out “offensive scenes” featuring Mihedi.
The show contains “intentional insult to religious symbols,” and the character of Mihedi is “a clear reference that includes intentional insult, in the form of euphemism and wordplay, to the character of Imam al-Mahdi,” according to the lawmaker.
The Shiite Endowment Office also condemned the show’s insulting references to religious figures, “whether intentional or unintentional.”
The office called on the showrunners to submit an apology and stop broadcasting the series “to preserve mutual respect for Islamic symbols on the one hand, and to ward off any attempt to disparage sacred figures in order to block the way for those seeking discord among Muslims,” according to the statement.
Utv announced on Sunday that it will remove all suggestive scenes in the upcoming episodes, adding that all similar instances have also been cut out of the previous episodes on all of the channel’s platforms, as part of the channel’s commitment to the CMC’s regulations, which includes the prohibition to disrespect religious figures “directly or indirectly.”
The Iraqi Supreme Judicial Council on Monday announced that a Baghdad court has issued an order to temporarily halt the broadcast of the show, in response to a lawsuit against Utv and the production company, filed by Sabah Atwan, the writer of the first season, for not receiving his financial entitlements.
The council’s statement did not mention anything in relation to the religious criticisms of the show.
Islamic theology says that a messianic figure, known as Imam al-Mahdi among Shiites and Muhammad al-Mahdi among Sunnis, will emerge at the end of times to redeem Islam and rid the world of evil.
