An Iraqi court has called on the parliament to revoke immunity from MP Sajjad Salem in light of a lawsuit filed against him by Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) Chief Faleh al-Fayyadh.

The Wasit Appellate Court has called on the Iraqi Parliament to revoke Salem’s parliamentary immunity as he is being charged with "insulting the Popular Mobilization Units, and accusing its leadership of committing murder via social media." 

The case, filed by Fayyadh, comes after Salem called for the merging of the PMF with the Iraqi security forces in a bid to end Iranian hegemony within its ranks.

An independent MP, Salem blamed Shiite political Islam for killing protestors in a press conference.

When thousands of Iraqis flocked to the streets of Baghdad and other provinces in 2019, security forces responded with forces, killing and injuring dozens of protesting youth who wanted to remove then PM Adel Abdul Mahdi’s government.

“The crimes of killing demonstrators are not individual and momentary actions, but rather an entire political side stands behind them,” Salem said, indirectly referring to armed groups affiliated to the PMF.

Salem added that merging the PMF with the Iraqi security forces would “prevent Iran from exercising its hegemony and influence through some of its agents from the leaders of factions and militias.”

The PMF was formed in response to a call-to-arms from Iraq’s top Shiite authority Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani in 2014 when the Islamic State was sweeping through Iraqi territory.

Though officially incorporated into the Iraqi armed forces, the PMF is described by many to share similar ideology with the Islamic Republic, and armed groups functioning under the PMF umbrella are considered part of the informal Iran-led axis of resistance in the region against Israel and western forces.

The group has on several occasions been blamed for assassinating activists, and launching attacks on US troops and diplomatic missions in the country.