Iraqi Courts Seek Lifting of Sunni Lawmaker’s Immunity

[maddezmom]

Source: New York Times

By DAMIEN CAVE
BAGHDAD, May 5 — Iraq’s top judicial authority has asked Parliament to lift immunity for a prominent Sunni lawmaker, possibly clearing the way for his arrest on charges of provoking sectarian violence.

An aide to the lawmaker, Adnan al-Dulaimi, and a Shiite employee of Parliament said the request was received 10 to 14 days ago from the Supreme Judicial Council, the main administrative body for Iraq’s courts. They said a vote on the issue in Parliament had not been scheduled.

If the request were granted, Mr. Dulaimi would become only the second Iraqi lawmaker to have his immunity from prosecution stripped away by colleagues. The first was Meshaan al-Juburi, a Sunni Arab former member of Parliament who was indicted last February on charges of embezzling millions of dollars.

Mr. Dulaimi’s aide, Muhannad al-Esawi, said it would never come to that. “It’s a fabricated issue,” Mr. Esawi said. “It’s a politically motivated case.”

Mr. Esawi blamed several Shiite lawmakers loyal to the cleric Moktada al-Sadr for accusing Mr. Dulaimi of taking part in sectarian killings. But allegations against Mr. Dulaimi and his party, the Sunni-dominated Iraqi Consensus Front, have been gathering for months.



Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/06/world/middleeast/06iraq.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print

[acmavm]

1. Boy, I bet the republics are sitting around scheming now. They'd love to

be able to do this to any Democrat in government.

[Kagemusha]

2. And which Democrats in government have immunity against prosecution?

I'd love to know whose immunity the Republicans are planning to strip. I really would.

[acmavm]

3. It's not the immunity, don't be silly. It's kicking their asses out of the

House and Senate that I'm talking about.

[Kagemusha]

4. Then you're talking about a completely different matter.

The removing of this Iraqi politician's immunity isn't for the sake of removing him. It's for the sake of trying him before a court of "law" and hanging him high. Let us not confuse the two.