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Baghdad Court Issues Arrest Warrant for Kurdistan VP Kosrat Rasul

Basnews English – 19/10/2017 – 14:36 – ERBIL — As the tensions between the Kurdistan Region and Iraqi central government escalate, a court in Baghdad issued on Thursday an arrest warrant for top PUK official and Kurdistan VP Kosrat Rasul.

The central government in Baghdad has issued the warrant against Rasul for calling the Iraqi forces, among them the Shi’ite militias of Hashd al-Shaabi, as “invaders” when they overrun Kirkuk last Monday. The senior Kurdish official would be charged with article 226 of the Iraqi penal code that will have a maximum sentence of seven years in prison, according to Abudl Sattar Bayraqdar, a spokesperson for Iraq’s High Judicial Council.  Kosrat Rasul, who is also the Deputy Secretary-General of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), commanded a massive Peshmerga force to protect Kirkuk against Baghdad invasion. However, he was later obliged to retreat after a faction within his party reportedly made a deal with Baghdad to not resist the Hashd al-Shaabi militias entering Kirkuk.

Rasul issued a statement after the crisis on Monday, describing the events as another “Anfal” or genocide against Kurds at the hands of Iraq. www.mesop.de