Iraq Punishes Sunni Arab Lawmaker Over Israel Trip

BAGHDAD — The Iraqi parliament voted overwhelmingly yesterday to lift the immunity of a secular Sunni Arab lawmaker as punishment for visiting Israel.

Mithal al-Alusi, who attended a counterterrorism conference in Israel earlier this month, was also banned by parliament from traveling outside Iraq or attending parliamentary sessions.

Critics said Mr. Alusi's trip was illegal and a humiliation for Iraqis who see Israel as a historic enemy. Without parliamentary immunity, Mr. Alusi could be subject to prosecution.

"Al-Alusi has insulted the hundreds Iraqi martyrs who fell while fighting the Israelis," another Sunni lawmaker, Osama al-Nujeifi, told the Associated Press. He was referring to Iraq's participation on the Arab side in past wars with Israel.

"It was a provocative visit to an historic enemy," he said.

There was no official count of how the lawmakers voted, but television footage of the parliamentary session showed the vast majority raising their hands to support the measures against Mr. Alusi. That was followed by a rancorous debate in which several lawmakers criticized the trip.

"Al-Alusi's visit is a humiliation to the Iraqi people and a violation of the Iraqi law that bans visiting an enemy state," a Shiite lawmaker, Haider al-Ibadi, said.

An aide to Khalid al-Attiyah, the parliament's deputy speaker, said the decision was based on a Saddam Hussein-era law making it a crime for Iraqis to travel to Israel.

Mr. Alusi, who attended the session, said he did not meet any Israeli officials during his visit. He said he attended the conference in order to explain and discuss the problems of Iraq.

He left the session after he was faced with a storm of criticism from lawmakers.