Iraq’s judiciary acquits powerful former speaker of forgery

BAGHDAD: Iraq´s judiciary has acquitted the influential former parliament speaker, Mohammed al-Halbussi, after dismissing him in 2023 over accusations of forging a document, his office announced on Sunday.

Halbussi had been the highest-ranking Sunni official since he first became speaker of parliament in 2018 with the support of Iraq´s powerful pro-Iran parties, and then in 2022 following early elections.

But in November 2023, Iraq´s Federal Supreme Court dismissed Halbussi after a lawmaker accused him of forging a resignation letter and said the former speaker had changed the date on an older document to force him out of parliament.

Halbussi´s media office said on Sunday that “the Iraqi judiciary acquitted” the former head of parliament “of the charges previously brought against him.” It added that the courts “dismissed the complaints” and closed the investigation.

Halbussi, who heads the Taqadom party, is known for his rapid ascent in Iraqi politics and as a key interlocutor for many Western and Arab dignitaries. Iraq´s 329-member parliament is dominated by a coalition of pro-Iran parties. Under a power-sharing system adopted in Iraq in the aftermath of the 2003 US-led invasion, political positions are divided between Iraq´s ethnic and confessional communities.