In an exclusive revelation, Faiq Zidan, Iraq's chief justice who has called for the arrest of former U.S. President Donald Trump, has confirmed through his spokesperson to Fox News Digital that he has received an invitation to visit Washington, D.C.
This news was first reported by Fox News Digital, which disclosed that Zidan had been invited to the U.S. capital.
The announcement of Zidan's proposed visit to Washington, D.C. sparked confusion, particularly when it was revealed that he was scheduled to meet with officials from the Department of Justice. A spokesperson from the State Department informed Fox News Digital last week, "The Supreme Judicial Council President Faiq Zidan is going to be hosted by the Department of Justice, so we defer to the DOJ to discuss their meetings. We engage with a wide range of counterparts in Iraq, and we value engaging the Iraqi judiciary. The DOJ meets regularly with foreign judicial leaders."
However, this statement was contradicted by an anonymous source familiar with the situation, who informed Fox News Digital last Thursday that "Zidan will not be meeting with any DOJ officials."
On Monday, Zidans spokesperson communicated with Fox News Digital via the WhatsApp messaging service, stating, "His visit to Washington was postponed due to the current war conditions. When he visits Washington, he will hold a meeting with you to clarify many matters that are not clear to American public opinion."
Fox News Digital had reached out to Zidans spokesperson prior to publishing its initial article on his planned visit, but she declined to comment either on the phone or via WhatsApp. After Fox News Digital shared its published story with the Iraqi spokesperson, she responded by stating that the ongoing conflict in Israel was preventing Zidan from traveling to Washington.
A source familiar with Zidans invitation to the DOJ revealed that the judge had informed several U.S. officials that the DOJ had invited him to Washington, D.C.
In January, Zidan announced that Iraqs Supreme Judicial Council had issued an arrest warrant for Trump in relation to the U.S. targeted killing of Iranian Qassem Soleimani, commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Quds Force, who is believed to have overseen the murders of over 600 American military personnel in the Middle East.
According to an article on the website of U.S.-sanctioned Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, Zidan stated during a meeting earlier this year with Raisi, "One of the most important examples of judicial cooperation between the two neighboring and brotherly countries is the trial of all those who participated in the terrorist crime of martyring the commanders of fighting against terrorism."
Zidan's statement was reportedly made during a discussion on seeking "justice for the martyrs Soleimani, al-Muhandis."
Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis was the leader of the pro-Iran Kata'ib Hezbollah militia in 2020. The U.S. military killed Soleimani and al-Muhandis in a lethal drone strike near Baghdad International Airport.
Richard Goldberg, a senior adviser for the Washington, D.C.-based Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told Fox News Digital, "The Justice Department should be focused on protecting Americans targeted by IRGC assassinations and kidnapping plots, not hosting the IRGCs man in Baghdad who wants to prosecute Americans for killing terrorists. Zidan should not be allowed in America."
Michael Knights, a fellow of the Washington Institute who has written about Zidan, told Fox News Digital that "Zidan issued one order after another that has disadvantaged opponents of Iranian militias."
Knights further revealed that following the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003, Soleimani and al-Muhandis "were the architects of moving Zidan up through the judicial system. He was running counterterrorism courts so that none of Irans friends got prosecuted under Iraqi law."
Knights also highlighted the absence of modern judicial norms in Iraq, stating that Zidan "is a supreme court judge who can hire and fire other judges. Iraq has one supreme court judge. He is as powerful as the prime minister of Iraq. He is unelected, installed by Iran and has no term limit."
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