Judicial Council of Kurdistan Region: Iraq’s Federal Court ‘unconstitutional’

In a statement issued on Wednesday, the Judicial Council of Kurdistan Region called Iraq's Federal Court “unconstitutional” and emphasized on the need to review its components following the court’s effort to stop the Federal Government from sending Kurdistan’s share of the budget.

 

The Judicial Council of Kurdistan Region said: “The Federal Court of Iraq acted against the sending of Kurdistan’s share of the budget, although the Kurdistan Region Government and the Federal Government agreed upon it earlier within the framework of constitution, law, and mutual understandings.”

 

The statement added that “this decision will not serve the stability and security of Iraq. It is against all the efforts made in the last year to rescue Iraq in the edge of a crisis and help the country forming the new government. The decision also comes at a time when Kurdistan Region and the Federal Government made progress in resolving pending issues between the two sides.”

 

The Judicial council said: “We also explained in the past that the current Federal Court of Iraq is unconstitutional and a review on its constituents is necessary. This can be done through a new law that matches the constitution, especially article 92, which clearly explained the mechanisms for establishing a federal court.”

 

“In today’s critical situation, the Federal Court of Iraq shouldn’t make decisions based on majority and minority policy and discriminate among different parts of Iraq, especially in reviewing matters that directly impact people’s livelihood and must be outside of political or deceptively legal decisions.”

 

On a concluding note, the Judicial Council of Kurdistan asked all parties to avoid creating new problems and encouraged them to find lawful and constitutional resolutions. The statement especially urged all sides to use a new law to establish a federal court that can respect the rights of all without discrimination within the framework of the 2005 constitution, which all Iraqi nations voted for.