Sadr bloc sues Iraqi diplomat for not boycotting Netanyahu's speech at UN

Nassar Al-Rubaie, the head of the Sadr Bloc, has filed a lawsuit against Samar Bashir Al-Qaisi, an employee of the Iraqi Foreign Ministry, for her refusal to boycott the speech of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during the 79th session of the UN General Assembly in New York on 27 September 2024.

According to the lawsuit document seen by The New Arab, Al-Qaisi's actions constitute a crime under Article 7 of Iraq's Law No. 1 of 2022, which criminalises normalisation with Israel, as well as Articles 201, 202, and 203 of Iraq's Penal Code No. 111 of 1969, as amended.

The complaint indicates that while many Arab and Islamic delegations exited the hall in protest during Netanyahu's speech, leaving the conference room nearly empty, Al-Qaisi, who was part of the Iraqi delegation, chose to remain in the hall. This decision, according to the legal document, is seen as a violation of Iraq's laws and an insult to the Iraqi people and the Arab and Islamic nations.

The document further clarifies that Al-Qaisi's refusal to leave the hall came at a time when Israel is committing severe crimes against humanity, war crimes, and genocide, particularly in Gaza and Lebanon, as well as in other Arab and Islamic regions.

In May 2022, the Iraqi parliament unanimously passed a law criminalising any form of normalisation with Israel, according to Iraqi state media. The law, proposed by the Sadrist bloc, imposes the death penalty or life imprisonment on anyone advocating for normalisation. Its primary aim is to prevent Iraq and the Iraqi Kurdistan region from formalizing ties with Israel in the future.

The law stipulates that any Iraqi who visits Israel will be sentenced to life imprisonment, and those who establish any political, economic, or cultural relations with Israel institutions, even through social media networks, will be sentenced to death. 

Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, who is known for his anti-Israel positions, in a tweet on 23 April 2022 called for his Sadrist bloc members to introduce the law. After the Iraqi parliament passed the law, Sadr described it as a "big achievement" and urged the Iraqi people to celebrate it.

Sadr's bloc won 73 seats in the 2021 elections, aiming to form a "national majority" government with Sunni and Kurdish allies, breaking from Iran-aligned Shia factions. After failing, Sadr ordered his lawmakers to resign in June 2022, sparking clashes between his loyalists and Iran-backed groups in Baghdad. The Iran-backed Coordination Framework filled the vacant seats, gaining a majority in parliament.

The lawsuit requests the court to take legal action against Samar Al-Qaisi and anyone found to be involved in the legal case.