Kurdistan parliament lifts immunity of three MPs
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — The Kurdistan Region Parliament has lifted the immunity of three of its lawmakers who are facing court cases.
Parliamentary Speaker Rewaz Fayaq lifted the immunity of Gorran MPs Daban Mohamad and Ali Hama Saleh, she informed Rudaw on Sunday evening.
She made the decision in response to a request from a court in Sulaimani province’s Penjwen town. The court asked the parliament in mid-December to strip Saleh and Mohamad of their office’s guaranteed protection from prosecution.
The two are named in a defamation lawsuit filed by the administration of the Bashmakh border crossing with Iran. The court filing claims the MPs harmed the reputation of the border crossing by accusing it of being involved in smuggling.
The MPs had earlier said they were ready to face the charge in court. “We will definitely go to court, without any immunity,” Saleh told Rudaw in January. “We will bring forth our evidence, and let us see if these smugglers will get arrested or not.”
In an interview with Rudaw’s Sangar Abdulrahman on Monday, Mohamad said they can prove their allegations. “We asked the parliament to lift our immunity in the first place,” he said.
The MP also called the head of the parliament “negligent” on the smuggling issue, saying, “we asked several times for meetings to be held to discuss the cases of smuggling. However they have not been held.”
“Smuggling is a serious issue, to the extent that there were times in the parliament when KDP [Kurdistan Democratic Party] and PUK [Patriotic Union of Kurdistan] MPs would raise evidence of smuggling against the other’s parties,” he said.
The Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) interior and Peshmerga ministries were tasked by Prime Minister Masrour Barzani in January with forming a new, joint force to prevent “violations and illegal movement” at the borders.
“The ministries of Peshmerga and interior have not carried out their task as of this moment, but the fact that the government needs to create a joint force to prevent smuggling is proof that it exists,” Mohamad said.
The Kurdistan Region has four official border crossings. Three are on the Kurdistan Region-Iran border - Haji Omaran in Erbil province, Bashmakh in Sulaimani province, and Parvizkhan in the Garmiyan administration – and one, the Ibrahim Khalil crossing, is on the Kurdistan Region-Turkey border. There many other unofficial border points.
In September 2020, a network that smuggled hundreds of millions of dinars' worth of goods into the Kurdistan Region through the Parvizkhan crossing was uncovered after an investigation by the Region's finance ministry and customs directorate.
Three weeks later, the spokesperson for the Kurdistan Region’s deputy prime minister Qubad Talabani announced that the government had formed a committee to study the issue of smuggling "in detail."
The third lawmaker who had immunity lifted is the KDP’s Bahman Kak Abdulla. Rudaw English reached out to him for comment, but he was not immediately available.
Parliamentary Speaker Rewaz Fayaq lifted the immunity of Gorran MPs Daban Mohamad and Ali Hama Saleh, she informed Rudaw on Sunday evening.
She made the decision in response to a request from a court in Sulaimani province’s Penjwen town. The court asked the parliament in mid-December to strip Saleh and Mohamad of their office’s guaranteed protection from prosecution.
The two are named in a defamation lawsuit filed by the administration of the Bashmakh border crossing with Iran. The court filing claims the MPs harmed the reputation of the border crossing by accusing it of being involved in smuggling.
The MPs had earlier said they were ready to face the charge in court. “We will definitely go to court, without any immunity,” Saleh told Rudaw in January. “We will bring forth our evidence, and let us see if these smugglers will get arrested or not.”
In an interview with Rudaw’s Sangar Abdulrahman on Monday, Mohamad said they can prove their allegations. “We asked the parliament to lift our immunity in the first place,” he said.
The MP also called the head of the parliament “negligent” on the smuggling issue, saying, “we asked several times for meetings to be held to discuss the cases of smuggling. However they have not been held.”
“Smuggling is a serious issue, to the extent that there were times in the parliament when KDP [Kurdistan Democratic Party] and PUK [Patriotic Union of Kurdistan] MPs would raise evidence of smuggling against the other’s parties,” he said.
The Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) interior and Peshmerga ministries were tasked by Prime Minister Masrour Barzani in January with forming a new, joint force to prevent “violations and illegal movement” at the borders.
“The ministries of Peshmerga and interior have not carried out their task as of this moment, but the fact that the government needs to create a joint force to prevent smuggling is proof that it exists,” Mohamad said.
The Kurdistan Region has four official border crossings. Three are on the Kurdistan Region-Iran border - Haji Omaran in Erbil province, Bashmakh in Sulaimani province, and Parvizkhan in the Garmiyan administration – and one, the Ibrahim Khalil crossing, is on the Kurdistan Region-Turkey border. There many other unofficial border points.
In September 2020, a network that smuggled hundreds of millions of dinars' worth of goods into the Kurdistan Region through the Parvizkhan crossing was uncovered after an investigation by the Region's finance ministry and customs directorate.
Three weeks later, the spokesperson for the Kurdistan Region’s deputy prime minister Qubad Talabani announced that the government had formed a committee to study the issue of smuggling "in detail."
The third lawmaker who had immunity lifted is the KDP’s Bahman Kak Abdulla. Rudaw English reached out to him for comment, but he was not immediately available.