Home
Politics
"JAC officials informed us by mail that the current governor of Salaheddin, Khaled Hassan Mehdi, had been an 'active member' of the Baath party and the council decided on Tuesday to suspend him for two months," Harbawi said.
"Mr Mehdi has one month to appeal, after which the JAC has one month to uphold or cancel the sanction," said Harbawi, who is also an elected provincial councillor for Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's State of Law bloc.
JAC spokesman Khaled al-Shami said the committee had received a letter several months ago alleging that Mehdi was a former Baath party member who should by law be disqualified from holding public office.
"One month ago we confirmed that the suspicions were proven and that he should leave his post," Shami said.
Provincial politicians speaking on condition of anonymity suggested that the allegations against Mehdi were a settling of accounts by supporters of former governor Mutasher Hussein Ellewi, who was sacked for alleged corruption in 2009.
Shortly after the 2003 invasion, the US-led occupation authority barred all senior and middle-ranking Baathists from public life, depriving tens of thousands of government employees of their jobs.
Implementation of the law is now overseen by the JAC, which disqualified 456 candidates from Iraq's March 7 general election for alleged membership of the party.
Headed by leading politicians from Iraq's Shiite majority community, the JAC has been accused of pursuing a witchhunt against members of the Sunni Arab minority which dominated Saddam's regime.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Mr Mehdi has one month to appeal, after which the JAC has one month to uphold or cancel the sanction," said Harbawi, who is also an elected provincial councillor for Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's State of Law bloc.
JAC spokesman Khaled al-Shami said the committee had received a letter several months ago alleging that Mehdi was a former Baath party member who should by law be disqualified from holding public office.
"One month ago we confirmed that the suspicions were proven and that he should leave his post," Shami said.
Provincial politicians speaking on condition of anonymity suggested that the allegations against Mehdi were a settling of accounts by supporters of former governor Mutasher Hussein Ellewi, who was sacked for alleged corruption in 2009.
Shortly after the 2003 invasion, the US-led occupation authority barred all senior and middle-ranking Baathists from public life, depriving tens of thousands of government employees of their jobs.
Implementation of the law is now overseen by the JAC, which disqualified 456 candidates from Iraq's March 7 general election for alleged membership of the party.
Headed by leading politicians from Iraq's Shiite majority community, the JAC has been accused of pursuing a witchhunt against members of the Sunni Arab minority which dominated Saddam's regime.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
