Al-Halboosi appears before Iraqi judiciary to answer forgery allegations

Shafaq News/ Former Iraqi Parliament Speaker Mohammed al-Halboosi appeared before the judiciary on Thursday to answer allegations of forgery, he said in a press conference.

Halbousi, who was ousted from office by the Iraqi Federal Supreme Court in November, said he was committed to upholding the law and would not flee the country.

"I am appearing before the judiciary as a citizen and political figure," he said. "I am committed to appearing before the judiciary in any complaint filed by any party."

Al-Halboosi, the younger parliament speaker in Iraq's history at 37, said that he had been accused of forging a letter of resignation from a lawmaker who had previously supported him. He denied the allegations, saying that the letter was authentic.

"We are working to make Iraq a country of institutions where the law is supreme," he said. "Any person who violates the law will be prosecuted."

The Iraqi Federal Supreme Court's surprise decision upended the career of Iraq's most powerful Sunni Muslim politician and sets the stage for a fight over succession.

Al-Halboosi's ouster -and the consequent resignation of country's planning, industry and culture ministers- destabilizes the government of Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, who came to power one year ago backed by a coalition that is led by a group of Shiite parties but also includes Sunni Arabs and Kurds.

Re-elected in 2021, the former governor of al-Anbar was serving his second term as speaker, a post he assumed in 2018 and which, under the sectarian power-sharing system established after the 2003 U.S. invasion, is the highest office reserved for a Sunni Muslim.