Iraq's Maliki could face death penalty, says lawmaker

Top Iraqi officials will be put on trial for ignoring ample warnings of an impending attack on Mosul and grossly mismanaging the ensuing crisis that saw the Islamic state group [IS] seize the city, a military spokesman has said.

Military spokesman Yahia Rasoul Abdallah has said Iraqi judicial system will prosecute senior officials regardless of rank, following a damning parliamentary report.

The report named a number of top officials, including ex-premier and now-vice president Nouri al-Maliki, as responsible for the fall of the city in Nineveh province.

The officials accused in the parliamentary report could face the death penalty if they are convicted for some of the actions mentioned in the report - Muhsen al-Saadon

It said the capture of Mosul in June 2014 could have been avoided if senior military officials had acted competently and paid attention to multiple detailed intelligence reports warning of the attack.

“The ministry of defence has taken a series of legal actions against tens of former military commanders and officers of various importance and referred them to be investigated by a military court,” military spokesman Yahia Rasoul Abdallah told al-Araby al-Jadeed’s Arabic service.

“The military will prosecute everyone regardless of their rank for failing to carry out their military duties, desertion, neglect and unjustified retreat,” he added.

Muhsen al-Saadon, a member of the parliamentary committee that released the report told al-Araby al-Jadeed’s Arabic service, “The officials accused in the parliamentary report could face the death penalty if they are convicted for some of the actions mentioned in the report.”

“They will be put on trial in courts depending on their status, civilians will be tried in normal courts while military officials will go on trial in military courts,” Saadoun added.

Former Governor of Nineveh Atheel al-Nujaifi told Sky News Arabia, “In my opinion Maliki is the main reason for the fall of Mosul because he ordered the retreat from the city.”

The Vice President allegedly retaliated by telling, The Baghdad Times, “Nujaifi conspired with IS before and during the fall of Mosul. The former governor was even providing [Sunni] protesters with aid.”

Maliki refuted on Tuesday the claims of the report, he wrote on Facebook, "What happened in Mosul was a conspiracy planned in Ankara, then the conspiracy moved to Irbil,", referring to the capitals of Turkey and Iraq's Kurdistan Region.

"There is no value in the result that emerged from the parliamentary investigation committee on the fall of Mosul, which was dominated by political differences and was not objective," he added.

Since the report was published on Sunday, Maliki has based himself in Iran, watching Abadi's sweeping reforms from the side-lines. He is on an "official visit" - but his position as vice-president has since been terminated.

After overrunning Mosul, IS seized Nineveh province and then swept south, overrunning a third of the country.

Backed by air strikes from a US-led coalition against IS, Baghdad's forces have regained ground in two provinces north of the capital, but much of western Iraq remains under the jihadists' control.