Ex-Kirkuk governor Najmaldin Karim arrested in Lebanon: sources
Former Kirkuk Governor Najmaldin Karim. 2017. Photo: Courtesy/drnajmaldin.com
BEIRUT,— The former Governor of Kirkuk province Najmaldin Karim was detained at Beirut International Airport upon landing in Lebanon’s capital an informed sources said. The source purported that the move had come on the basis of legal complaints lodged against the Baghdad-ousted governor in Iraqi courts.
The sources, who asked not to be identified, said on Tuesday that the arrest took place immediately after the presence of the governor of Kirkuk at Beirut airport.
According to the same sources the Iraqi ambassador in Beirut intervened to find out the circumstances of the arrest.
The office of Najmaldin Karim late on Tuesday rejected claims that the Karim had been arrested in Lebanon. “The news is far from the truth and Dr. Najmaldin Karim has gone on a trip outside the country on regular and diplomatic work and will return to Kurdistan next week,” a statement from Karim’s office however read, K24 TV reported.
Iraqi judiciary had issued earlier an arrest warrant against Najmaldin Karim on the background of raising the flag of Kurdistan region in the governmental departments in Kirkuk province in addition to his role in allowing the referendum on Kurdistan independence in Kirkuk and other files.
An Iraqi court has ruled in August 2017 to cancel a decision by Kirkuk Provincial Council that voted to raise the Kurdish flag alongside the Iraqi one.
But Karim has defied an Iraqi court ruling and insisted to keep the Kurdish flag used by Kurdistan Region flattering alongside the Iraqi one in the province.
The controversial raising of the Kurdish flag was strongly opposed by the Iraqi government, neighboring countries , notably Turkey and Iran as well as Turkmen and Arab parties in Kirkuk and stirred up heated debates among Kurds, Arabs, and Turkmen in Iraq. The United Nations has also warned that the decision to fly the Kurdish flag over the citadel in Kirkuk could inflame tensions.
Karim is also accused of corruption. A Kurdish lawmaker said in 2018 that “up to $60 million in Kirkuk petrodollars deposited into a bank account of the former governor has gone missing.”
The Kurds are seeking to integrate Kirkuk province into the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Region claiming it to be historically a Kurdish city, but Iraq’s central government opposes this. The population is a mix of Kurds, Arabs, Christians and Turkmen.
The Arabs and Turkmen do not want to see the province under permanent Kurdish control.
Kurdish forces take full control of Kirkuk after the Islamic State insurgency in Iraq in 2014 and the withdrawal of Iraqi army form the province and some other northern region of the state, including second-biggest city of Mosul.
In October 2017 following the Barzani’s controversial referendum the Iraqi federal forces taking over most of the disputed areas claimed by Baghdad and Erbil.
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