Arrest warrant for Omar al-Jamal over hate speech targeting Shiite candidates

Shafaq News – Baghdad

Iraq’s Supreme Judicial Council issued an arrest warrant on Monday for media personality Omar al-Jamal on charges of producing “immoral content,” a security source told Shafaq News.

The warrant followed al-Jamal’s appearance in a video during Sunday’s special voting phase of Iraq’s parliamentary elections, in which he shouted remarks described by the judiciary as hate speech and insults to religious figures.

In the footage, al-Jamal urged voters in the Sunni majority provinces of Diyala, Saladin, Mosul, Baghdad, and Al-Anbar to avoid supporting Shiite parties, including Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani’s list, accusing them of “killing people and spilling their blood.” He called on Iraqis to vote for Sunni factions instead, such as Taqadum and Al-Siyada, saying that “voting for Shiite parties is an insult to the people lying in their graves.”

Al-Jamal’s case is the latest in a growing number of prosecutions under Iraq’s broad and ambiguously worded morality and blasphemy laws. Between 2024 and 2025, authorities across Baghdad, Mosul, and Al-Anbar arrested several artists, influencers, and media figures accused of defaming religion or spreading “indecent” material under Articles 372 and 403 of the Penal Code, which criminalize insults to religion and offenses against public morals.

Read more: Iraq’s 2025 poll: +21M voters, new law, fading monitors, and fierce bloc rivalries