Report: Sistani aide calls for lifting legal immunity from lawmakers

Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani is the highest Shiite religious figure in Iraq, and a man of great influence politically.

An aide to Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani in Baghdad called for lifting immunity off members of the Iraqi parliament at the courts of law.

"The Iraqi Parliament should cooperate with the judiciary and not to think twice about stripping immunity off any members suspected of supporting armed groups," read a statement by the office of Sistani's aide, Ali al-Waez, received by the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI) on Sunday.

Several arrest warrants were issued against some members of Iraqi parliament within the anti-terror law on charges of stealing funds, financing violence and attempting to drag Iraq into sectarian strife.

Waez also appealed to the government to "provide services for citizens and accelerate the re-building of the shrines of two holy Shiite imams in Samarra."
The shrines of Imams al-Aaskaris were bombed a year ago, followed by the outbreak of a wave of sectarian violence still taking its toll on Iraq.

From VOI

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