Iraq
Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani (left) during a meeting with Judge Faiq Zidan, president of the Supreme Judicial Council in Baghdad on January 13, 2024. Photo: Office of President Barani
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Kurdistan Region leaders on Sunday stated their support for Faiq Zidan, president of Iraq’s Supreme Judicial Council, who an American lawmaker wants to label a "tool of Iranian influence.”
“We affirm our support for and solidarity with Judge Faiq Zidan, president of the Supreme Judicial Council. We highly appreciate his significant efforts and dedicated service to the judiciary and the nation,” Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani said on X.
“We reject any targeting, defamation, or statements that harm his reputation or undermine his standing,” he added.
The Washington Free Beacon, a conservative American political journalism platform, on Thursday reported that Florida Representative Michael Waltz was set to introduce an amendment to the foreign appropriations bill that would designate Zidan an “Iranian-controlled assets.”
In a post on X, Waltz claimed that Zidan is “at the center of Iran’s plot to turn Iraq into a client state” and that slapping the label on Zidan would be the first step in dismantling Tehran’s network of control.
Bafel Talabani, the leader of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), also expressed support for Zidan and the Iraqi judicial council in a statement on X.
“The Iraqi judicial institution is an independent and national institution respected by all Iraqis. Any attack on this institution and its respected president, Judge Faiq Zidan, is unacceptable and condemned, regardless of the parties or individuals who dare to target it,” Talabani said.
The statements from the Kurdish leaders come despite Waltz being a staunch supporter of the Kurdistan Region in its disputes with Baghdad.
In a letter to US President Joe Biden in September, Waltz and two other congressmen urged the administration to help end the “unacceptable treatment” of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) by Iran-aligned elements.
“The Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has served as one of the United States’ most reliable partners in the Middle East, yet is being economically strangled, politically and legally pressured, including reportedly by Faiq Zaydan, President of the Supreme Judicial Council in Iraq, and militarily threatened by Iran and Iran-backed elements in Baghdad,” read the letter, using another anglicized spelling of Zidan’s name.
Iraq’s foreign ministry has also condemned Waltz’s campaign against Zidan.
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