During his two terms as prime minister, Nouri Maliki drove away many Sunni leaders from the Iraqi political landscape through court decisions, namely, former Iraqi Vice President Tariq Hashimi and Finance Minister Rafe al-Esawi.
And now under Haider al-Abadi the same scenario is being used against Kurdish leaders. The first case started with firing Kirkuk Governor Dr Najmaldin Karim. The latest official wanted by these courts is the deputy leader of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), Kosrat Rasul Ali.
There are claims that these courts will also try the Kurdistan Region’s President Masoud Barzani.
On Thursday, October 19, 2017, judge Abdulstar Bairaqdar, spokesperson for Iraq’s Judicial High Council, said that the Rusafa Investigation Court issued, in accordance with article 226 of Iraq’s penal code, an arrest warrant to Kosrat Rasul Ali for branding Iraqi forces in Kirkuk province as ‘invaders.’
Article 226 says that any person who disrespects the national council, government courts, armed forces or any other department of the government, will be sentenced by imprisonment for no more than 7 years or fined.
“Kosrat Rasul Ali faces charges of insulting the state. But the accused is innocent until proven guilty. He can therefore appear in front of the court and speak his words,” Tariq Arb, an expert in the constitution and law, told Rudaw.
He also said that according to the court decision, Kosrat Rasul is now wanted and cannot therefore travel abroad. His property will also be seized. For example, if he has property in Kirkuk, it will be seized.
This is the third arrest warrant being issued for Kosrat Rasul Ali. One was during the former regime of Saddam Hussein, the other one was during the internal war between the PUK and the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP).
“The decision to arrest Kosrat is political and we will pursue every legal procedure to nullify this decision,” Mohammed Othman, MP with PUK in the Iraqi parliament, told Rudaw.
“The rulers of Baghdad are free. They can make any decision they want, but they should know that they cannot and they don’t have the right to arrest a patriot like Mr Kosrat and other patriots,” Masoud Barzani said of the arrest warrant issued for Kosrat Rasul.
Lawsuits have been filed against many Kurdish officials in Baghdad, notably, Najmaldin Karim, Rebwar Talabani, Hoshyar Zebari, Babakir Zebari, and officials from the Kurdistan Region’s High Independent Electoral and Referendum Commission.
Sadiq Laban, an MP of the State of Law coalition rejects the idea that the Iraqi court decisions against the president and vice president of the Kurdistan Region, Masoud Barzani and Kosrat Rasul, are political. He thinks that the courts were late in issuing these verdicts and should have therefore taken this step earlier.
“The court has issued an invitation for Masoud Barzani. If he doesn’t appear before the court, a decision to arrest him will be made,” he added.
“Resorting to the court and issuing arrest warrants for the leaders of the Kurdistan Region will ruin the bridge of dialogue and getting close to one another. This doesn’t serve the situation. It deepens the crisis rather than solving it,” Abdulqahar Samaraye, a Sunni MP with Coalition of Iraqi Forces, told Rudaw.
The current scenario against the Kurds was practiced previously against the Sunnis. Through court decisions, Nouri al-Maliki chased away the effective leaders of the Sunni Arabs.
An arrest warrant was issued in December 2011 for Iraqi Vice President Tariq Hashimi, an effective Sunni leader, on charges of alleged involvement in terrorist activities.
Hashimi turned to the Kurdistan Region on January 19, 2011. Then president of Iraq Jalal Talabani said that Hashimi was his guest and will appear before the court at any time. But Hashimi left Kurdistan and went to Turkey. The court then sentenced him to death in absentia.
Rafe al-Esawi, a Sunni Arab official and finance minister, faced the same fate. An Iraqi court issued a prison sentence of seven years to him in 2015. He lives outside Iraq now.
The list also includes other Sunni Arab leaders Khamis Khanjar, Ali, Atam Sulaiman, Atheel Nujaifi, former Mosul governor, Aris Zari, head of Muslim scholars body who in 2013 faced charges of involvement in terrorist activities and then left Iraq. He died from cancer in Istanbul on March 13, 2015.
Some Shiites have also fallen victim to this campaign initiated under the name of constitutional and law enforcement.
On August 23, 2003, an Iraqi court issued an arrest warrant for Muqtada Sadr, leader of the Sadr movement, on charges of inciting the murder of a Shiite religious figure, Abdulmajid Khuy.
According to some statistics, the Iraqi government had as of the beginning of 2016 submitted 1015 arrest warrants to Interpol.
In addition, seven Iraqi officials who are accused of corruption fled Iraq this year.
Many of these officials are wanted by the court, namely, Ayham Samaraye, minister of electricity in Ayad Alawi’s cabinet. He faces 12 dossiers of corruption. Mohammed Shalash, minister of electricity during Ibrahim Jafaari’s cabinet, was also wanted.
As are Karim Wahid, minister of electricity in Nouri Maliki’s first cabinet, Azim Shaalan, defense minister in cabinets of Ayad Alawi and Ibrahim Jafaari, Luay Hatam, minister of transportation during the cabinet of Ayad Alawi, Asad Hashimi, ministry of culture in Maliki’s first cabinet, Malas Sheikh Mohammed Kasnazani, minister of trade in Haider Abadi’s cabinet in 2014 until the beginning of 2015.
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