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Kurdistan
Iraqi MP Ghalib Mohammed Ali, member of the Hope Coalition, was stabbed in Sulaimani on February 26, 2021. Photo: Ghalib Mohammed Ali/Facebook; Graphic: Sarkawt Mohammed/Rudaw
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – The spokesperson for the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) said late Friday that the KRG “strongly” condemns the attack on a Kurdish lawmaker in the Iraqi parliament. Ghalib Mohammed Ali was stabbed on Friday in Sulaimani.
Jotiar Adil said the government has “the utmost trust in the security forces to find the attackers, who will be brought to justice.”
Ali, an outspoken critic of the KRG, had returned to his home in Sulaimani city when he was “stabbed in the head” while taking shopping bags out of his car, the MP’s close friend Wrya Mohammed told Rudaw. He was taken to Sulaimani's Shar Hospital and discharged the same day.
“Obviously, I have been threatened for a while for defending people and their rights,” Ali told reporters after leaving the hospital, adding that the attack will not deter him from his work.
He called on the security forces to arrest the people who attacked him, before “they bring this upon others.”
“I hope this case is not derailed like the other cases, such as the Badinan one,” Ali said, referring to the arrest of a dozen people in Duhok province during anti-government protests last year. This month, five of the detainees were sentenced to six years in jail, drawing criticism from rights organizations.
An investigation has been launched into the attack on Ali, according to KRG Deputy Prime Minister Qubad Talabani, who said in a tweet soon after the incident that security forces “have been assigned to carry out a detailed investigation into the incident and ensure the attackers face the law.”
Ali and 14 other lawmakers from different Kurdish blocs in the Iraqi parliament formed the Hope Coalition in mid-January.
The Coalition said in a statement that the attack was “expected” because Ali had previously warned Kurdish and Iraqi institutions that he had received threats for his criticism of the KRG.
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