Arrest warrants for 3 Iraqis over normalisation calls with Israel

A Baghdad court has issued arrest warrants for three participants in a meeting calling for the normalising ties with Israel, a proposal that has been rejected by the Traqi government.

The court on Sunday issued the warrants against tribal leader Wisam al-Hardan, former lawmaker Mithal al-Alousi, and Sahar Kareem al-Taie, an employee at the Iraqi Ministry of Culture, the Supreme Judicial Council said in a statement.

They participated in what the Iraqi government called an "illegal meeting" held two days ago by some tribal figures and individuals in Erbil, the capital of the semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan, reports xinhua news agency.

The statement added that the Supreme Judicial Council will take legal measures against the other participants in the Erbil meeting once the authorities got their full names.


The call for normalising ties with Israel in the Erbil meeting was condemned and rejected by both the government and the people.

According to the Iraqi laws, the country has no diplomatic relations with Israel and Iraqis are prohibited from travelling there.

"The concept of normalisation is constitutionally, legally, and politically rejected in the Iraqi state.


"The government clearly expressed Iraq's firm position in support of the Palestinian right in establishing an independent state with al-Quds (Jerusalem) as its capital," rime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi said in a statement on Saturday.

On September 24, hundreds of Iraqi individuals from several Iraqi provinces held a meeting in Erbil, calling on Iraq to join the Abraham Accords and establish diplomatic relations with Israel.-IANS