Call for Maliki to stand trial came on ‘instructions’, Sudani ally says

BAGHDAD — A post by a member of former Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani’s coalition calling for Nouri al-Maliki to stand trial was made on instructions, a senior figure in the coalition said Sunday.

Mohammed al-Khalidi, of Sudani’s Reconstruction and Development Coalition, told Al-Rasheed TV that the instructions changed after Ammar al-Hakim, leader of the Hikma Movement, mediated between the coalition and Maliki’s State of Law Coalition. He did not say who had given the instructions.

“Khalid Walid’s tweet was not his personal opinion. It came on instructions, but after Hakim’s intervention, the instructions changed,” Khalidi said.

Khalid Walid al-Marsoumi, a member of Sudani’s coalition, called on X late Saturday for Maliki to be tried over the fall of governorates to the Islamic State group in 2014. “Put Maliki on trial, and do not forget the blood of your sons in the days of the fall of the governorates and the bitter strife,” he wrote.

He also asked what had become of the state’s final accounts for 2012 to 2016, the audited year-end statements of government spending.

Hisham al-Rikabi, who heads Maliki’s media office, rejected the call in a reply on X. “Enough hypocrisy and point-scoring over the blood of Iraqis,” he wrote. Those who spoke of the fall of the governorates should stop exploiting Iraqis’ tragedies in their political rivalries, he added.

Khalidi said Khalid Walid’s post had been a response to accusations by State of Law lawmakers. “There has been a dispute recently between State of Law and Reconstruction and Development, but Ammar al-Hakim intervened to calm the situation. His intervention ended the disagreement,” he said.

On the other side, Ahmed al-Mubarqa, head of State of Law’s parliamentary bloc, said in an interview with presenter Sahar Abbas that the dispute between Sudani and Maliki had been driven by competition in the election and the formation of the government. The media should not carry it past the government’s formation, he said.

“Our response was clear: we were not pleased with Yousif al-Kilabi’s approach,” Mubarqa said, referring to the State of Law lawmaker whose remarks about Sudani had set off the latest clash.

Parliament on Tuesday referred Kilabi to the Parliamentary Conduct Committee on a complaint from Bahaa al-Araji, head of the Reconstruction and Development parliamentary bloc. The complaint accused Kilabi of insults and of making false statements about Sudani. Mubarqa said he had asked Speaker Haibat al-Halbousi during the session to allow a friendly settlement instead.

Kilabi had called for Sudani to be held accountable for Iraq’s debt, saying Sudani’s government left the country 208 trillion dinars (about $160 billion at the time) in debt. Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi, who succeeded Sudani in May, told lawmakers on Oct. 8 that his government had inherited public debt of more than 208 trillion dinars.

Turning to Kilabi’s talk of a complaint to the judiciary against Sudani, Khalidi said: “We want all governments to be reviewed and audited.” The review should run from the 2005 government to the present, with every corruption file opened, he said.

He also called for checks on the academic qualifications of lawmakers from previous parliamentary terms and of officials at director-general level and above since 2003, from primary school certificates to bachelor’s degrees. The checks would show how much money could be recovered, he said.

State of Law, Sudani’s coalition and Hakim’s Hikma all belong to the Coordination Framework, the dominant Shiite alliance in parliament. Maliki served as prime minister from 2006 to 2014. In June 2014, Isis captured Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city, and went on to seize large areas of northern and western Iraq.

A parliamentary committee in August 2015 named Maliki among 36 officials it held responsible for the fall of Mosul and recommended that they stand trial. The Framework nominated Maliki for a return as prime minister in January 2026 but settled instead on Zaidi.