Iraq
Iraqi President Barham Salih (center) and the Iraqi Federal Supreme Court. Photos: AFP. Graphic: Rudaw
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iraqi top court is set to review a case filed against President Barham Salih concerning the presidential pardon he granted to a former provincial governor’s son convicted of drug trafficking, a Kurdish official told Rudaw on Friday.
Three Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) MPs filed a complaint to the Iraqi Federal Supreme Court against the Iraqi President, on account of pardoning a convicted drug trafficker, saying Salih is violating his jurisdictions as a president.
Speaking to Rudaw’s Hemin Baban, KDP’s Muhsin Sadun said they expect the Supreme Court to rule in their favor next Thursday.
“The pardon is outside the authorities of the President,” he said.
Jawad Louay al-Yasseri, whose father was then governor of the central province of Najaf, was arrested in 2018 and sentenced to life in prison, which amounts to a 20-year term in Iraq.
Louay and his two fellow convicts in the same case were granted a presidential pardon and released in January.
The decision sparked a major controversy among the Iraqi community, which led Salih to “order the immediate withdrawal” of the pardon and the "arrest of the convicted persons."
The case against Salih comes amid political rife in the country and just days before Iraq elects a new president. Salih is running for a second term, competing against the KDP’s candidate Reber Ahmed.
“There is a possibility that Barham Salih will get disqualified from running for the position of president,” Sadun told Rudaw.
By Chenar Chalak
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