In fact, the request for a constitutional clarification was dated as recently as 30 April, meaning that the court has been unusually effective. It should be added that the minister in question, Ali al-Adib, is from Maliki’s party.
Perhaps it is its effectiveness that has led to what must be described as one of its most scandalous rulings ever, perhaps second only to the Byzantine piece of jurisprudence pertaining to the independent commissions that it produced last year. Basically, the query is about the interpretation of article 61-7-c of the constitution.
That article is very simple. It enables 25 deputies to request the questioning of ministers in order to “hold them accountable for matters within their specializations”, with at least seven days between the request to the actual hearing. And that is it.
But the ruling of the supreme court is far more complicated! It appears to say such requests must be accompanied by a specification of alleged constitutional and legal infractions and must define breaches and material damages in terms of criminal procedure. The court goes on to say questioning is the highest form of supervision parliament can exercise and considers it tantamount to withdrawing confidence in the minister.
The problem is, absolutely none of this can be found in the constitution. Actually, the court also refers to article 58 of the parliament bylaws, but the basis for the new interpretation just isn’t there either and the legality of those bylaws – currently under review – is disputed anyway. Certainly, most cases of Iraqi ministers being questioned in the past seven years have been void of specific accusations of criminality.
What we have here is a very clear case of the Iraqi supreme court producing a ruling that seems politically biased to the point where it apparently overrules the Iraqi constitution and the right of parliament to hold ministers accountable.
Hopefully Iraqi politicians will use the specific problems at hand here – rather than the fantasies of the Arbil agreement, which in itself is full of unconstitutional and extra-constitutional ideas – to frame a reasonable debate about the independence of the Iraqi judiciary. They have got plenty of time to do so, because parliament is now on holiday until 14 June.
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