Is Khomeini still alive in Iraq? Iraqi legislator criticized for befouling ayatollah’s memory

A member of parliament from the secular but Sunni backed al-Iraqiya List has been condemned and asked to apologize for his remarks about the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, reported Iraqi Alsumaria TV on Friday.

Parliamentarian Haidar al-Mulla referred to the eight-year long Iraq-Iran war as an act of “idiocy’ made by both former President Saddam Hussein and Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khomeini.

His remarks caused uproar as other MPs jumped to the defense of Ayatollah Khomeini, who they see as their religious leader. A signature campaign endorsed many MPs has called for Mr. al-Mulla to apologize for his comments.

“Mr. al-Mulla should offer an apology for his slander of a religious authority that is well respected by a large number of Muslims,” said Ali Sheer, an MP from the mainly Shiite National Alliance, told the TV channel.

Mr. al-Mulla said that his comment has been taken out of context and asked that religion not be brought into it. He said he was commenting solely on why the Iraq-Iran war went on from 1980 to 1988.

He added that he himself hailed from a Muslim family that respected all religious figures across the board.

Another MP from the National Alliance, Amir al-Fayez said that Mr. al-Mulla’s explanation should suffice for an apology.

Many members of Iraq’s National Alliance have lived in exile in Iran for not being able to practice their religious and political ideals, including the party’s head Ibrahim al-Ja’afari, who is also a head of the Shiite Islamic Dawa Party.

Iraq’s Shiite majority has denounced the secular Ba’ath Party’s alleged suppression of their religious rites.

And those who felt suppressed in Iran during the wars found a home in Iraq. One example is the People’s Mujahedeen of Iran, which opposed the Iranian government for decades but was welcomed in Iraq.

Relations between the two former foes have been stable the last few years but earlier this month, the incident at the refugee camp for PMOI, Camp Ashraf in Iraq, witnessed a violent crackdown in which 37 party members were killed.


(Dina Al Shibeeb of Al Arabiya can be reached at [email protected])