Parliament removes immunity of Mithal al-Alusi, who made his third trip to the Jewish State last week.
By JPOST.COM STAFF, APmithal alusi 88 298(photo credit: AP)
Iraqi legislators said Sunday that parliament had voted to lift the immunity of a Sunni Arab lawmaker who visited Israel.
The parliament has also banned Mithal al-Alusi from traveling outside Iraq or attending parliamentary sessions, they said.
Sunday's punishment was confirmed by Osama al-Nujeif, a Sunni Arab lawmaker, and Haider al-Ibadi, a Shi'ite lawmaker.
The two men said Alusi's trip was illegal and a humiliation for Iraqis who see Israel as a historical enemy. Without parliamentary immunity, Alusi could be subject to prosecution.
Alusi, chairman of Iraq's Democratic Party, Mithal al-Alusi, surprisingly arrived at a conference on terror in Herzliya last Wednesday, calling for the establishment of a joint intelligence network with Israel and the United States.
"In Israel, there is no occupation, there is liberalism," Alusi said to the sound of roaring applause.
Alusi made his first trip to Israel in September 2004 to participate in a counter-terrorism conference. Apparently as payback, extremists murdered his two sons, 22 and 30.
The terrorists "will try to kill more. They will try to stop us. It should give us power to continue, to believe in ourselves," he told The Jerusalem Post in an interview at the time.
Alusi was given the American Jewish Committee's Moral Courage award following his sons' deaths.
Hilary Leila Krieger contributed to this report
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