Iraqi Court Issues Arrest Warrant for Ayad Allawi

TEHRAN, May 16 (FNA)- An Iraqi court issued an arrest warrant for former Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi for writing an article against former member of the Iraqi parliament Mesal Alousi in the official newspaper of the al-Iraqiya Coalition.
An informed source told FNA that the al-Iraqiya newspaper owned by Allawi - a senior Iraqi politician and the interim Prime Minister of Iraq prior to the 2005 legislative elections in the country - had published an irritant article against Alousi last year and after Alousi filed a lawsuit against the owner and editor of the newspaper, the court issued an arrest warrant for Allawi.

Deputy head of the al-Iraqiya party confirmed the news in a phone interview with FNA correspondent in Baghdad, but declined to reveal any further details.

Meantime, the Spokeswoman of al-Iraqiya Coalition, Maysoun al-Damaloujy, on Sunday denied the issuance of an arrest warrant against Allawi in the background of a case.

Damaloujy told Aswat al-Iraq that "the Leader of her Coalition, Iyad Allawi, possesses a Parliamentary immunity," denying the issuance of a court order to arrest Iyad Allawi in the background of a judicial case by the former Chairman of al-Umma Party in Wassit Province.

"We have contacted the said court, which denied the report," Damaloujy said.