Iraq’s top court has terminated the tenure of parliament speaker Mohammed al-Halbousi, who called the decision “strange” and suggested it violated the constitution and undermined national stability.
The Federal Supreme Court’s ruling on Tuesday on the country’s most powerful Sunni politician is final and not subject to appeal, according to state media.
The court said in a statement that it decided to terminate al-Halbousi’s membership in parliament along with that of lawmaker Laith al-Dulaimi. It did not elaborate on why it issued the decision.
In a video shared by his media office, al-Halbousi said: “We are surprised by the issuance of such decisions. We are surprised by their lack of respect for the constitution.”
He said that in his five years as speaker, he had operated with integrity and “never discriminated” between Sunni and Shia Muslims.
The ministers of culture, planning and industry handed in their resignations to protest what they said was the “targeting” of al-Halbousi.
Article from www.aljazeera.com