ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - An Iraqi parliament member has submitted a petition calling for questioning the interior minister over the decision to extradite Kuwaiti dissident Salman al-Khaldi, which sparked a lot of controversy and drew heavy backlash against Iraqi authorities.

Kuwait’s interior ministry announced that 25-year-old Khaldi was captured before he was able to leave Iraq and was handed over to Kuwait through direct coordination with Iraqi authorities. The ministry thanked Iraqi Interior Minister Abdul Amir al-Shammari, Basra Governor Asaad al-Eidani, and other authorities in the neighboring country for their “fruitful cooperation and rapid response.”

Nisan al-Zair, a Shiite lawmaker, on Friday submitted a formal petition to the parliament, calling on the legislature to agree to host Shammari and question him on Khaldi’s extradition, which she said, “contradicts legal and constitutional Articles.”

Zair cited an Article in the Iraqi constitution, which states that “no political refugee shall be surrendered to a foreign entity or returned forcibly to the country from which he fled,” also attaching a list containing the names and signatures of MPs who back the petition.

Khaldi had fled to the UK in 2022, seeking political asylum, days before Kuwaiti judicial authorities sentenced him in absentia to five years in prison over tweets in which he alleged the involvement of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman in the assassination of Saudi dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018.

Khaldi was also an outspoken critic of the Kuwaiti government on social media, shedding light on many alleged cases of corruption, for which he was handed five more years with hard labor on charges of spreading “false and malicious rumors.”

Iraq's interior ministry on Thursday addressed the controversy, stating that Iraq handed over Khaldi as part of its obligations as an INTERPOL member state and after receiving a warrant for his arrest from the Kuwaiti side.

Khaldi’s Kuwaiti citizenship was reportedly revoked in April 2024. He faces 11 prison sentences back in Kuwait.