The Criminal Court of Kirkuk has sentenced the former speaker of the Kirkuk provincial council to six years in prison in absentia.
The verdict has been issued on May 17, following a complaint filed by the prosecutor general against Rebwar Fayeq Talabani, currently advisor to the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).
"The court sentenced the fugitive to six years in prison under article 340 of the Iraqi Penal Code and issued an arrest warrant and informed him of the sentence imposed on him to surrender to the court or the nearest police station with the right to appeal the ruling."
The court also ordered the relevant authorities to ban him from traveling outside Iraq and support the confiscation of his movable and immovable properties.
The court ordered travel ban and his properties to be confiscated
The decision did not mention the reasons for the decision except referring to article 340 under which he was sentenced.
According to article 340 of the Iraqi Penal Code, any employee or anyone assigned to the public service who deliberately damages the property and interests of the authority works for is punishable by imprisonment for not more than seven years.
"I am not aware of anything and I have not received any notice from the court," Talabani told KirkukNow on Tuesday.
The Iraqi parliament have suspended the provincial councils all over Iraq in October 2019 following demands by protestors and amendment of electoral law.
The Kurdish political parties were holding the senior positions of Kirkuk such as governor Kirkuk, head and deputy of the provincial council up to 2017 when the Iraqi government declared the defeat of the Islamic State ISIS and took over control in most of the disputed territories.
Back in October 2021 parliamentary elections, Kurds won 6 out of the 12 parliamentary seats of Kirkuk, four to Arabs, only two for the Turkmens and one quota seat for the Christians.
Currently, Iraqi army, local and federal police, Brigade 61 of Special Forces along with Shiite paramilitary of Popular Mobilization Forces PMF, are under Kirkuk joint operations’ command, an umbrella for the security forces running the security of Kirkuk province.
Talabani has not handed over his vehicles
On June 19, 2021, the Iraqi federal integrity Commission issued an arrest warrant against Talabani and two other members of the dissolved Kirkuk provincial council. They were charged with failing to hand over vehicles, goods and supplies of the state and its seizure under Article 340 of the Iraqi Penal Code.
According to the integrity Commission, Talabani and the other two members of the provincial council have not submitted clearance and refused to hand over the state properties and supplies that belong to the state including cars and office supplies.
The oil rich-city of Kirkuk is home to about 1.7 million Kurds, Turkmen and Arabs. Located 238 kilometers north of Baghdad, Kirkuk is the center of the disputed territories where Iraqi security forces have taken control in October 2017 following the declaration of defeat of ISIS by Iraqi government.
