Baghdad, Apr 30, (VOI) – Premier Nouri al-Maliki refused on Wednesday to apologize to former premier and head of the Iraqi National List, Iyad Allawi, for accusing the latter of standing behind the violent acts that took place in Najaf in 2007, during a Shiite religious occasion.Al-Maliki considered this issue as purely "judicial." "If there was an insult made by the Iraqi List or the head of the Iraqi List, then it is not our responsibility to apologize for it," al-Maliki said in a press conference in Baghdad as reported by Al-Iraqiya satellite channel. "He (Allawi) must apologize, but if there was no insult, then this is not our responsibility, but rather that of the judiciary's," al-Maliki added, answering a journalists' questions.
In mid-March, lawmaker Osama al-Nujaifi of the Iraqi National List (secular parliamentary bloc) called on the government to submit "an official apology" to Iyad Allawi, after accusing him of involvement in al-Zarga events. Al-Nujaifi explained that this is a condition for the Iraqi National List before joining any negotiations with the government that aim at restoring the Iraqi National List in al-Maliki's government.
"The head of the Iraqi National List can submit a petition to the judiciary, and a committee can be formed to re-study (the accusations), but if the case is approved, judicial measures will be taken, but if it is not approved, then the judiciary will apologize," al-Maliki said.
"It is not a political case, but a judicial issue," he asserted. "This is the only case that the Supreme Judicial Council examined from A to Z, from investigation, decisions, to the ending, and neither the police nor cabinet intervened in this issue," al-Maliki asserted.