Iraqi ex-MP freed after courts dismiss all charges

Shafaq News- Baghdad

Iraqi politician and former lawmaker of al-Azm Alliance, Haidar al-Mulla, was released on Tuesday after spending two and a half months in detention, following the dismissal of all legal cases filed against him over previous media statements.

In a statement, al-Mulla thanked former Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi for dropping his complaint and offering pardon in one of the cases. He also issued a public apology to al-Kadhimi for statements in which he had accused him of involvement in the killing of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, deputy head of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), an umbrella of predominantly Shiite armed factions operating under nominal Iraqi state authority. Al-Mulla said those accusations were based on false and misleading information and had damaged al-Kadhimi's reputation.

The legal proceedings against al-Mulla had moved swiftly through the courts. On March 5, Baghdad's Karkh Criminal Court convicted him of promoting the banned Baath Party— the ruling party of former Saddam Hussein, outlawed after the 2003 US-led invasion— based on remarks he made on a television program, sentencing him to two years of strict imprisonment under Article 123/3 of the Iraqi Penal Code. His legal team appealed on March 29, and Iraq's Federal Court of Cassation overturned the conviction on April 26, acquitting him of all charges and ordering his release.

Al-Mulla said the outcome demonstrated his respect for judicial procedures and his confidence in the rule of law.