Revived TV drama breaks Iraq’s taboos

After a 27-year hiatus, an Iraqi TV program banned by Saddam Hussein for its gritty depiction of life under sanctions has returned to portray drug lords thriving in the war-scarred country.

Television viewership in the Middle East traditionally peaks during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, when the faithful tune in to their favourite shows after breaking their daily fast at sunset.

This Ramadan, a revived "Wahiba's World" is one of several Iraqi shows focusing on social issues such as drug addiction, crime, divorce and unemployment.

It delves into "issues troubling our society as a consequence of war and chaos," the programme's director Samer Hikmat told AFP.

Iraqis have suffered through decades of turmoil since the Iran-Iraq War in the 1980s and former dictator Saddam's invasion of Kuwait in 1990, which triggered harsh economic sanctions.

They were followed by a US-led invasion in 2003, civil war, sectarian violence and the jihadist proto-state of the Islamic State group, which was only defeated in late 2017.

The oil-rich country of 43 million, still recovering from those conflicts, is now plagued by endemic corruption and clientelism, a weak economy, poor public services and high unemployment.

Decades of instability have created "a class of people who have profited from the chaos," Hikmat said, pointing in particular at newly wealthy drug dealers.

Iraq, traditionally mainly a transit country for drugs, has faced an explosion in narcotics use in recent years, mainly of the amphetamine-like stimulant captagon and crystal meth.

The first series of "Wahiba's World", released in 1997, told the story of Wahiba, a nurse who makes every effort to help her neighbours amid the crippling international...