The Governing Council of the Inter-Parliamentary Union,

Referring to the outline of the case of Mr. Hareth Al-Obaidi, a member of the Council of Representatives of Iraq and Vice-Chairperson of the parliamentary committee on human rights when he was assassinated in June 2009, which has been examined by the Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians since its 126th session (July 2009) pursuant to the Procedure for the treatment by the Inter-Parliamentary Union of communications concerning violations of the human rights of members of parliament,

Taking into account the information provided by a member of the delegation of Iraq who appeared before the Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians during the 130th IPU Assembly (Geneva, March 2014),

Recalling the following information on file:

• On 12 June 2009, Mr. Al-Obaidi, a Sunni member of the Council of Representatives, Vice-Chairperson of the parliamentary committee on human rights and leader of the National Concord Front parliamentary group, was shot dead along with his bodyguard in the Yarmouk mosque in Baghdad;

• The President of the High Judicial Council indicated in December 2009 that the assassination had been investigated by the Counter-Terrorism Bureau of the Criminal Justice Section of Al‑Karkh, under the jurisdiction of the Criminal Tribunal of Al-Karkh, and that 20 people had been arrested as a result; however, after interrogation, only four were kept in custody for further investigation and arrest warrants were issued for a further 10 people, all of whom remained at large at that time;

• In June 2010, the President of the High Judicial Council reported that the investigation was still under way and that one of the suspects, an Al‑Qaida affiliate named Manaf Al-Rawi, had confessed to the crime; suspicions of Al-Qaida involvement had been previously referred to in media reports, according to which Mr. Ahmed Abed Oweiyed, the Deputy Commander of the military branch of Al-Qaida in Iraq, was arrested on 17 June 2009 in connection with the murder; 

• The President of the High Judicial Council indicated in October 2011 that the Court of Cassation had concluded in July 2011 that the central criminal tribunal of Al-Karkh had been erroneously seized of the case through three different indictments and therefore ordered a new decision regarding which court had jurisdiction,

1. Notes with interest that the alleged perpetrator has been prosecuted and held to account;

2. Is particularly eager to receivedetailed information from the House of Representatives about the conclusions of the investigation and subsequent judicial proceedings leading up to the conviction of the suspect; is particularly interested to find out whether the investigation was able to establish the reasons why Mr. Al-Obaidi was targeted; also wishes to know if other suspects were held accountable;

3. Requests the Secretary General to convey this resolution to the parliamentary authorities, the sources and any third party likely to be in a position to supply relevant information;

4. Requests the Committee to continue examining this case and to report back to it in due course.

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