Media monitor

Iraqi PM’s advisor distances government from Integrity Commission chief’s Erbil presser

2024-09-07 | 15:43

BAGHDAD — Fadi Al-Shammari, an advisor to the Iraqi prime minister, said the government does not support the recent actions of Haider Hanoun, head of the country’s Integrity Commission, during a press conference in Erbil. Al-Shammari added that the government was unaware of Hanoun’s plans and had attempted to ‘prevent him’ from speaking publicly, without providing further details.

Al-Shammari stressed that both parliament and the judiciary should summon Hanoun to clarify his statements.

Excerpts from Al-Shammari’s interview with Al Sharqiya TV:

In the last two weeks, several files have been raised and blown up. Anyone looking at the situation from above will discover that there is a desire to disrupt the situation and mix the cards, and it all began with the appearance of Nur Zuheir, followed by political and public pressure towards resolving his case.

The government’s position is against Judge Haider Hanoun’s conference, and raising the issues in this manner does not contribute to stabilizing the situation. What happened was an inappropriate endeavor, and we do not believe that raising issues through the media and public bickering between authorities serves the interest of the system.

He now holds the details of the pressures he faced, and he is the party required to provide clarifications. The government was not aware of Judge Haider Hanoun’s conference, and we received the announcement of the conference in the morning, just like the media. However, he made a mistaken effort in presenting the issue, despite our attempts to convince him not to appear. I will not go into the details of the prevention.

There are those who want to benefit from the current chaos and confusion, and there are parties involved in the political process from different components who want the executive and judicial authorities to clash. There are also those who want the Prime Minister to resign, and there are different views within the Coordination Framework regarding Sudani.

The issue of Haider Hanoun cannot be understood if we take it out of the context that has been escalating for the past two weeks. It is clear that someone wants to confuse the scene, but we stand with the judiciary and with the rulings it issues regarding all the cases that have been raised recently. We are an executive body that adopts the judgments and decisions of the judicial authority.

Haider Hanoun presented important information that did not originate from his ideas but was the result of official investigations. However, he presented it in the parliament and the Supreme Judicial Council. We cannot judge its credibility just through television screens.

It would have been more appropriate for Haider Hanoun to present his files before the President of the Judicial Council, in the presence of anyone he wished from the head of government, parliament, or any other party.

The cases that have been raised over the past two weeks are separate from each other, but their sequence is interconnected, with the intention of damaging the relationship between the government and the judiciary, confusing the political scene, and leading to an atmosphere of quarrels in preparation for entering the election phase.

Judge Faiq Zaidan has developed the judicial system significantly and elevated the level of the judicial oversight body. In the end, the man respects his institution, and what remains is for the two authorities, the judiciary and the executive, to cooperate to fight corruption.

Everything that happened over the past two weeks is media exaggeration and not based on real facts, starting from the case of Mohammed Jouhi and moving downward. There was no arrest of any photographer of Mr. Sudani, and the arrested person is an employee in the media department, and the arrest was carried out by judicial order and a security apparatus under the command of the Prime Minister.

The detained employee has no connection to the Mohammed Jouhi case; he is involved in another case. According to my information, he has currently been presented to the judiciary, and it has been clarified that his case is not related to Jouhi, and I am confident that the judiciary will consider his matter.

Mohammed Jouhi is an employee in the Prime Minister’s office, not in the government palace, and everything said about him is a lie and an exaggeration intended to cover up a major file named: Nur Zuheir. We in the government have identified the parties and the media and electronic entities that promoted the lies in WhatsApp groups and social media, and I believe legal actions will be taken against them.