“The US laws and sanctions cannot be implemented inside Iraq and the Iraqi parliament’s leadership needs to protect the Iraqi sovereignty by condemning the latest US sanctions on four Iraqi officials,” Nsaif told Rudaw English on Saturday.
Nsaif belongs to the State of Law Coalition that is led by former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and supports the predominately-Shiite Hashd al-Shaabi paramilitias forces (PMFs). The signed petition is a response to US sanctions on Iraqi officials for alleged corruption and human rights abuses issued by the Department of Treasury on Thursday.
Pages of a petition contained the signatures of 102 Iraqi parliamentarians collected on Saturday in protest of US sanctions this week on four Iraqi officials, according to Nsaif.
The individuals sanctioned by Washington include: Rayan al-Kildani, the leader of a Christian Hashd faction called the Babylon Movement; Waad Qado, the is head of Hashd’s Shabak 30th Brigade; former Nineveh Governor Nawfal Hamadi; and former Saladin Governor Ahmed al-Jabouri who is currently an MP — the latter two are Sunni politicians but Hashd al-Shaabi supporters.
Jabouri similarly expressed that the US sanctions or decrees are against the Iraqi constitution and they are of no concern.
“We don’t care about the latest decisions and sanctions by America on me and three other Iraqis.” Jabouri said at a press conference in the Iraqi parliament on Saturday.
“Iraqi sovereignty is a red line for us and we are only committed to Iraq’s constitution and Iraq’s laws, as I have faced the Iraqi judiciary several times for corruption accusations and I was [found] innocent each time” he added, claiming that some unspecified countries in the region are betraying Iraq.
Hamid al-Musawi, also an MP and a member of the pro-Hashd Fatih Alliance, came out strongly against the United States sanctioning Iraqis who support Hashd al-Shaabi.
“After the US failed to achieve their goals in Iraq through establishing the ISIS terrorist organization with some of their allies, they are now trying to ruin the peaceful picture of the PMFs by spreading lies and making fake accusations against some PMF commanders," he said on Facebook on Friday.
Fatih won the second-most seats in parliament in last year's election.
“I would inform Iraqi leaders and the Iraqi government that US sanctions will continue and will include more PMF leaders and commanders in near future; therefore, it is our duty to refuse the US interfering in Iraqi laws and breaking the sovereignty of Iraq," he added.
Iraqi Speaker of Parliament Mohammed al-Halbousi did not immediately comment on the incident. The Sunni politician tries to maintain political balance in a country where ethno-religious tensions often spill into politics.
The US Treasury had said the corruption and human rights abuses committed by the four individuals were in “areas where persecuted religious communities are struggling to recover from the horrors inflicted on them” by the Islamic State group (ISIS).
“As a result of today’s actions, all property and interests in property of these individuals, and any entities that are owned, directly or indirectly, 50 percent or more by these individuals, that are in the United States or in the possession or control of US persons must be blocked and reported to OFAC,” it detailed.
Kildani and Qado were accused by the United States of “serious human rights abuse or corruption” which occurred during the ISIS conflict.
Kildani’s sister was a strong candidate to become Iraq’s next education minister during Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi’s cabinet formation talks. However, she did not obtain gain enough votes in parliament to secure the post.
Qado, also known as Abu Jaafar al-Shabaki, was accused of extracting money from the mixed Christian-Shabak town of Bartella in the Nineveh Plains “through extortion, illegal arrests and kidnappings.”
Abdul-Mahdi has been under mounting US pressure to curb the actions of Iran-affiliated groups after a spate of rocket attacks against US military and economic targets in Iraq, with attacks carried out on ExxonMobil’s Basra headquarters and military facilities where US troops are stationed, as well as a near-miss attack against the US embassy in Baghdad.
Additionally, an attack on oil infrastructure of US partner Saudi Arabia is suspected by US officials to have been launched from Iraq on May 14. Baghdad has demanded proof of the US accusations.
Abdul-Mahdi issued a decree on July 1, in which forces the Hashd units to suspend their organizations, close their offices and checkpoints, surrender their "economic interests," and to fully incorporate into the Iraqi Army by July 31.
While many leaders in the Hashd al-Shaabi initially supported the decree, reactions have become mixed and political. Through the ISIS conflict, the US-led international anti-ISIS coalition was forbidden from assisting the Hashd.
