Ex-Sudani adviser gets suspended sentence for defaming Olympic chief

BAGHDAD — A Baghdad court on Wednesday gave Khalid Kabyan, a former sports adviser to then-Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, a suspended six-month jail sentence for defaming the Iraqi National Olympic Committee and its president, Aqeel Muften.

The Karkh Misdemeanor Court convicted Kabyan under Article 433(1) of Iraq’s Penal Code No. 111 of 1969, which covers defamation, according to a court document dated Wednesday. The document does not say which statements or allegations the case was based on.

Judge Saad Tahir Khalaf cited Kabyan’s advanced age and lack of a prior criminal record in suspending the sentence for three years. The suspension holds on condition that Kabyan stays on good behavior for that period and deposits a 200,000-dinar guarantee (about $130 at the official rate) with the court.

The ruling caps a long-running dispute between Kabyan and the committee’s leadership. In November 2025, while he was Sudani’s adviser and president of the Popular Mobilization Forces’ sports club, Kabyan drew criticism over letters he sent to the International Olympic Committee challenging Muften.

Mustafa Jabbar Allak, president of the Iraqi Muay Thai Federation, said at the time that Kabyan had sent about eight letters to the international body using his government post. Allak said the letters amounted to government interference in Olympic affairs and could expose Iraqi sport to sanctions under the Olympic Charter.

Allak also said the International Olympic Committee had told Kabyan to stop writing to it directly and to go through Iraq’s Olympic Committee instead.

Muften had been placed under U.S. sanctions weeks earlier. On Oct. 9, 2025, the U.S. Treasury accused him and his brother of laundering tens of millions of dollars for Iran and said his Olympic post had been abused “to engage in corruption.” The committee rejected the accusations. On Nov. 21, 2025, it said Muften had temporarily handed his duties to its first vice president, Abdul Salam Khalaf. Olympic Council of Asia releases as recently as September again describe Muften as the committee’s president.

In a separate case, the Iraqi Sports Settlement and Arbitration Center, which rules on sports disputes, decided on Sept. 22 that Kabyan’s membership of the club’s administration had ended, removing him as its president. Rejecting his appeal, the center cited a final criminal conviction that it said left him without the legal standing to represent the club. It also upheld the Olympic Committee’s decisions withdrawing his authority.

The committee had dissolved the club’s administrative board in February, citing legal, administrative and financial violations. The PMF rejected the decision and called it retaliatory.

Wednesday’s ruling can be appealed. Once it is final, the committee and Muften can seek compensation in the civil courts.