Iraq orders arrest of Kurdistan Referendum Commission members

An Iraqi court yesterday issued arrest warrants against the president and members of the Kurdistan Region’s High Electoral and Referendum Commission which oversaw the referendum on separation from Iraq.

A spokesman for the high judicial council, Judge Abdulstar Bayraqdar, said “the Rusafa Investigation Court has issued an arrest warrant for the head and members of the commission who supervised the referendum in the Kurdistan Region”.

Both Iraq and Turkey have strongly opposed the referendum and taken several measures to isolate Kurds by suspending relations with the Kurdistan Regional Government, banning international flights to Kurdistan and bypassing the region while reopening a disused pipeline between the two countries.

Read: Why the Kurdish referendum means the end of Iraq