But the strange thing now is that the furore seems to have died away, leaving many journalists and political analysts and activists in Iraq wondering what happens next.
“This sudden silence confirms that this issue is now being settled behind closed doors along political corridors, away from the judiciary and the people,” says activist Ali al-Mahni. “The government and the Parliament should be more courageous and they should question those implicated in the documents.”
Iraqi Minister of Transport, Baqir Jabr al-Zubaidi – a Shiite Muslim politician - was another expressing his displeasure. On social media, he openly called the behaviour of the politicians implicated treasonous – and he was not alone. While other Iraqis called for the death penalty, the more moderate opinions said that the individuals implicated should not be allowed back into politics.
“In Egypt, [former President] Mohammed Morsi was sentenced to death just because he made a telephone call and talked to one terrorist figure,” argues Saad al-Matlabi, a Shiite Muslim politician and a member of the security committee in Baghdad's provincial council.
“If those involved do not face the death penalty, at the very least they should be prevented from forming political parties or participating in elections,” he argued.
The frenzied calls for justice subsided somewhat after the Iraqi government announced the formation of two committees to look into the matter more closely. One committee would represent the Iraqi executive and the intelligence services and the other would be a parliamentary one.
“The two committees will verify the information in these documents and the results will be submitted to the judiciary ,” explains senior Shiite Muslim MP, Khalid al-Asadi. For one thing, the committees would need to work out whether the documents were real and could be used as a basis for prosecution.
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