Charges Against Adnan Dulaimi

Fresh Details Revealed in Dulaimi Charges

Allegations of Killings and Forced Migrations, Buratha Reports

Photo by Ali Abbas/AFP.

Adnan al-Dulaimi, member of parliament and head of the Tawafuq Front, at the Iraqi Parliament in September 2006.

Buratha News reports that it has obtained important details relating to the judicial file of Sunni MP Adnan al-Dulaimi, leader of the Tawafuq Front, the largest Sunni bloc in the Iraqi Parliament.

Dulaimi's file contains "tens of charges" lodged by residents of Hay al-'Adil, according to Buratha's report in Arabic, alleging links between Dulaimi and crimes of murder and forced displacement in the western Baghdad district.

Aside from providing further details in the ongoing controversy over attempts to prosecute members of parliament, Buratha's report, if true, also gives a glimpse into the judicial process in Iraq.

The charges allegedly include accusations of forced displacement and assassinations ordered directly by Dulaimi, his three sons Munqidh, Muhannad, and Makki, his son-in-law Mus'ab, and his daughter Asma', also a Tawafuq MP, according to Buratha's report.

Buratha writes that the charges were relayed directly to the security apparatus by Shaykh Jalal al-Din al-Saghir after hearing of them from residents of Hay al-'Adil. Shaykh al-Saghir is a member of parliament and the head of the Shi'a Buratha Mosque, which is closely associated with SCIRI, and located in the western Baghdad district of Utayfiya.

The Minister of Defense circulated the charges among its units, according to Buratha News, in order to verify them, and found that "the results came back unainimously positive, that is, the information contained in these complaints was sound."

On that basis, a criminial investigation was opened, Buratha News writes, with the attorney general organizing the complaints which, according to Buratha, pointed to Adnan al Dulaimi specifically, and his "protection apparatus" which Buratha says was formed during the Interim Government and grew to include approximately 250 members.

Photo by Wathiq Khuzaie/Getty.

Shaykh Jalal al-Din al-Saghir, member of parliament, and head of the Buratha Mosque, speaks on the phone at the Iraqi Parliament in May 2006.

On March 13, 2007, the Central Investigating Court wrote to the Supreme Judicial Council in a letter, numbered 1601, requesting an investigation into Dulaimi and his sons Munqidh and Makki, as well as members of his protection force, considering Dulaimi responsible for the alleged forced displacement and sectarian killings. The Council sent the letter immediately to the head of public prosecutions, Buratha reports. This office sent a letter, number 3870/2007, to the Supreme Judicial Council dated April 10, 2007, which prompted the Judicial Council, in its letter, number 244, dated April 11, 2007, to write to the Speaker of the Parliament.

The speaker, Mahmoud al-Mashhadani received the letter, Buratha writes, and the matter has not left the speaker's office yet.

Presumably, the content of the letter from the Supreme Council to al-Mashhadani requested that Dulaimi's parliamentary immunity be lifted so that the case can proceed.

Here the story intersects with what Slogger reported yesterday, wherein Dulaimi, his party, and the Tawafuq Front denounced the judicial order as a politically motivated ruse, and sectarian in its essence.

Continued...