Former Prime Minister al-Maliki to stand trial for letting Mosul fall in the hands of the Islamic state
Baghdad (AsiaNews) – An Iraqi parliamentary panel issued a report, calling for former PM Nouri al-Maliki to face trial over the fall of the northern city of Mosul to Islamic State (IS) group. More than 30 other officials including former Mosul governor Athil al-Nujaifi were also blamed in the report. The militants seized Mosul in a sweep across north and west Iraq last year.
Mr Maliki, a Shia, headed the Iraqi government from 2006 to 2014. He is seen as having fanned sectarian tensions, leading to a growth of discontent in those mainly Sunni Arab areas captured by IS.
As head of the Armed Forces, he tried to centralise control over the army in his office and appointed commanders based on friendship and loyalty, rather than competence and capability.
A majority of 16 the parliamentary committee's 24 members approved the Mosul report last week. Today, the Iraqi parliament ratified it by a large majority by a show of hand. "No-one is above the law and accountability to the people," said parliamentary speaker Salim al-Jaburi in a statement.
The vote gives the green light for the trial of the former prime minister and scores of senior officials. Now the ball is the judiciary’s court, which has to decide whether to proceed.
Iraq’s second largest city fell to the IS on 10 June 2014, thanks in great part to the fact that regular Iraqi troops abandoned their posts and weapons.
The sudden turn of events in Iraq’s main northern city caused dismay not only in Iraq but also around the world, quickly turning the IS into the biggest threat to peace and coexistence in the Middle East.
Interviewed by the Lebanese French-language daily L'Orient-Le Jour, journalist and Iraq expert Gilles Munier said that the former prime minister’s involvement in Mosul’s fall “is obvious and has been known for some time”. Iraqi forces, he explained, were ordered not to fight advancing militias coming from Tikrit.
However, any trial of the former prime minister remains in doubt because “nothing is known about his whereabouts,” whether he is in Syria, Iran or Iraq itself.
Maliki’s responsibilities are compounded by those of the United States, which spent "huge amounts of money” on training the Iraqi army, a lot of which "ended up in the pockets of Shia and Sunni leaders" instead of training soldiers.
Recently, current Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi cleared the way for a court martial of military commanders who abandoned their posts as another city, Ramadi, fell to IS in May of this year, without encountering resistance from the Iraqi military.
At the same, the government is continuing its campaign against corruption and mismanagement in an attempt to restore the country’s unity and stability.
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13/11/2007
