Shafaq News – Baghdad

Iraqi member of parliament Mustafa Jabbar Sanad announced on Wednesday that he had filed a lawsuit against Khamis al-Khanjar, the head of the al-Siyada National Party (The Sovereignty), for using the sectarian term "mob-like."

The term was used by the late former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein against the Shiites who rose against him in central and southern Iraq in the early 1990s in what became known as the Shaabaniyah Intifada, which erupted after the invasion of Kuwait.

Sanad had earlier vowed to legally pursue al-Khanjar for “insulting the largest component of the Iraqi people.”

In late August, MP Saud al-Saadi also filed a complaint with the Electoral Commission to disqualify al-Khanjar after he also described Iraqis as mob-like. The official complaint stated that "al-Khanjar used religious institutions (the Abu Bakr al-Siddiq Mosque in the al-Ghazaliya district) for electoral purposes, including promoting himself and his party in the parliamentary elections, which constitutes a crime punishable by the law on parliamentary and provincial council elections."

Al-Siyada Alliance, in response, clarified that the referenced statement dates back to December 8, 2023, following an assault by outlaws who desecrated the mosque's sanctity, terrified worshipers, and committed practices that included cursing the companions of the Prophet and insulting symbols of the Sunnis.