Federal Court will likely dismiss Khashan's perjury lawsuit against al-Halboosi, expert says

Shafaq News/ Iraq's Supreme Court will dismiss the "constitutional perjury" lawsuit filed by lawmaker Bassem Khashan against parliament speaker Mohammad al-Halboosi, legal expert Mohammad Jumah said on Monday.

"The constitution mentioned the crime of perjury but linked it to enacting a law that criminalizes this deed, but there is no such law in real life," Jumah told Shafaq News Agency, "Article 61 of the constitution stipulated that perjury lawsuits against the president of the republic are a prerogative of the Federal Supreme Court."

"To convict a president, a law shall determine the penalty for the court to exercise its role. In the absence of such law, the court cannot look into the case," he continued, "it will be dismissed."

"The Federal Court might find that such lawsuit is outside its jurisdiction," he added, "Lawmaker Bassem Khashan adduced the article that grants the Parliament Speaker, Prime Minister, and President of the Republic the equal sovereign attributes and, therefore, what applies to the president applies to the speaker. However, the Federal Court might decide that the parliament's internal act deals with the rights and not the duties and dismiss the case on this basis."

The sixth item of Article 61 of the Constitution stipulates that a president might be impeached by an absolute majority in the parliament after a conviction in the Federal Supreme Court for: constitutional perjury, violating the constitution, and high treason.