ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - The Iraqi judiciary has acquitted former speaker of the Iraqi Parliament Mohammed al-Halbousi, more than a year and a half after he was dismissed over forgery accusations, his office announced on Sunday night.

The Iraqi Federal Supreme Court ended Halbousi’s tenure as parliamentary speaker during his second term in office in November 2023 after Laith-al-Dulaimi, a Sunni parliamentarian, accused him of forging a resignation letter and said that Halbousi had changed the date on an older document to force him out of parliament. The court dismissed both from government.

Halbousi's removal held significant implications for Iraq's political landscape. Since the end of Saddam Hussein's rule in 2003, Halbousi has been the only politician to maintain the highest position in the country available for representatives of the Sunni community for more than one term.

Halbousi’s media office said on Sunday that "the Iraqi judiciary acquitted” the former parliament speaker of “the charges previously brought against him.”

It added that the courts "dismissed the complaints" and closed the investigation.

Halbousi leads the Taqadum party, which boasts three ministerial positions in the current Iraqi cabinet; with party members heading the ministries of planning, industry, and culture. It is the largest Sunni faction within the parliament.

The current government under Prime Minister Mohamed Shia' al-Sudani took office in October 2022, a full year after the 2021 elections in which a bloc under popular firebrand Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr received the highest number of seats in the parliament.

The customary governing structure established after 2003 has been with the position of prime minister going to a member of the Shiite majority and that of parliament speaker to a Sunni, while the role of president is de facto reserved for a member of Iraq’s Kurdish community.