Iraqi court issues arrest warrant for Kurdistan’s vice president

An Iraqi court has issued an arrest warrant for the vice president of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), accusing him of alleged “provocation” against the Arab country’s armed forces, which managed to take over Kirkuk province earlier this week.

Baghdad’s Rusafa Investigation Court on Thursday ordered the arrest of Kosrat Rasul, who had referred to the Iraqi army and federal police as “occupation forces” in a statement he released a day earlier.

In his statement, Rasul, who is also the vice president of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), one of the two main Kurdish parties alongside the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), had also criticized his group for not having resisted the entry of Iraqi forces into Kirkuk on Monday.

“The court considers these comments as provocation against the armed forces, under Article 226 of the penal code,” an offence, which can entail a prison term of up to seven years or a fine, said a judiciary spokesman for the court.

Rasul entered Kirkuk with his Peshmerga fighters on Sunday but withdrew from the oil-rich northern city without a fight.

The withdrawal came after the Kurds handed over their positions in the northwestern province of Nineveh to Iraqi troops following a 48-hour operation against Kurdish forces in the disputed areas. 

Last week, Iraq’s judiciary also issued arrest warrants for three senior Kurdish officials, who were behind the contentious plebiscite, which also faced strong opposition from regional countries, including Iran and Turkey.

Iraq's Supreme Court had already ruled the referendum unconstitutional and ordered it called off.

SS