Foreign Ministry: Extradition of Iraqi Kurdish suspect ‘illegal’

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The Iraqi Foreign Ministry has expressed concern over the extradition of an Iraqi Kurdish suspect by the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) to Germany.

Ali Bashar, 20, was deported to Germany after his arrest by Duhok police and confessing to the rape and murder of 14-year old German teenager Susanna Feldman.

In a statement on Wednesday, Iraqi Foreign Ministry spokesperson Ahmed al-Mahjoub claimed the extradition of the suspect by KRG authorities to German authorities violates the law.

“Baghdad considers the extradition illegal from the side that deported the suspect and from the side that received him,” the statement said, noting that extradition of suspects is a sovereign authority vested in the federal Ministry of Justice.

There is no joint agreement between Germany and Iraq for the extradition of wanted people, the spokesperson added.

The statement stressed Iraq’s keenness to achieve justice and punish the perpetrator but within a legal and constitutional context that does not violate national sovereignty.

Bashar, a failed Iraqi Kurdish asylum seeker, allegedly murdered Feldman after raping her and dumping her body near the German city of Wiesbaden.

Following his escape to Kurdistan, German authorities contacted local authorities in the Region, leading to Bashar’s capture. 

Kurdish police arrested the 20-year-old at his relative’s house in the city of Zakho before he admitted to raping and murdering Feldman, Duhok city police chief Tariq Ahmed told Kurdistan 24.

German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer, meanwhile, said in a statement that he hoped Bashar would now “rapidly” face trial. “I am delighted the suspect will be tried in Germany.”

Editing by Karzan Sulaivany