BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraq’s top court was set to resume work Monday after nine judges who had tendered their resignations in recent weeks returned to work following the retirement of the court’s president and the appointment of a successor.
Iraq’s Supreme Judicial Council announced Sunday the retirement of the head of the Federal Supreme Court, Judge Jassim Mohammed Abboud Al-Amiri, citing “health reasons.” The Council nominated Judge Mundher Ibrahim Hussein, deputy president of the Federal Court of Cassation, to assume the position, and Hussein was appointed by presidential decree on Monday.
A court official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to comment, said the judges had resigned over alleged interference undermining the court’s independence and agreed to return only after Al-Amiri’s departure.
Al-Amiri could not be reached for comment.
The Federal Supreme Court has been embroiled in controversy over a number of rulings that were seen as politically motivated, including the dismissal of former Parliament Speaker Mohammed Al-Halbousi, a prominent Sunni figure, in November 2023, which triggered significant political turmoil.
In February, the top court threw out a legal challenge that had temporarily halted three controversial laws passed by the country’s Parliament. The measures included an amendment to the country’s personal status law to give Islamic courts increased authority over family matters, including marriage, divorce and inheritance, which critics have said would erode women’s rights.
They also include a general amnesty law that opponents say allows the release of people involved in public corruption and embezzlement as well as militants who committed war crimes. The third bill aimed to return lands confiscated from the Kurds under the rule of Saddam Hussein, which some fear could lead to the displacement of Arab residents.
A number of members of Parliament had filed a complaint alleging that the voting process was illegal because all three bills — each supported by different blocs — were voted on together rather than each one being voted on separately.
Most recently, the court was embroiled in controversy over its ruling that overturned Iraq’s agreement with Kuwait on the regulation of maritime navigation in the Khor Abdullah waterway. That sparked both a diplomatic and constitutional crisis after the ruling was challenged by both Iraq’s Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani and President Abdul Latif Rashid.
The Federal Supreme Court had also increasingly come into conflict with other judicial bodies.
Before his retirement, al-Amiri had submitted two formal requests to the president and the speaker of Parliament, calling for a meeting of the State Administration Coalition, the ruling coalition in the government, to deliberate on the growing conflict between rulings issued by the Federal Supreme Court and the Court of Cassation. He proposed inviting constitutional and legal experts to attend. Both requests were rejected.
The resignation of the nine judges could have led to a constitutional vacuum had an agreement not been reached to bring them back.
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