BAGHDAD: Iraqi MP Mithal Al-Alusi, controversial in Iraq for his contacts with Israel, said yesterday that he fears for his life as the Iraqi government has stopped paying for his personal security as part of a decision to strip him of his parliamentary immunity.

The Iraqi Parliament made the decision to punish Al-Alusi after he visited Israel in early September.

Israel and Iraq do not have diplomatic relations and Iraqis widely consider Israel as an enemy. The unanimous parliamentary decision also banned Al-Alusi from traveling outside Iraq or attending parliamentary sessions.

Al-Alusi told the Qatari Al-Arab newspaper that Iran would be the main perpetrator should any attempt be made on his life. He said pressure from Iran is the main reason why most of the MPs voted to strip him of immunity.

Regarded as a staunch supporter of the United States and Israel and an opponent of Iranian policy, Al-Alusi made his first controversial visit to Israel in 2004 while being an influential member of the Iraqi Governing Council.

Since then he has been the target of several assassination attempts in Baghdad, one of which caused the death of his two sons.

“It (the measure) is sad and painful especially when the constitution is violated by the same people who created it,” Al-Alusi told the newspaper.

Al-Alusi explained that the constitution backs the freedom of movement and travel in and out of Iraq. He added that an MP should be stripped of immunity only if he has been criminally indicted.

Al-Alusi also told the newspaper that Iraqi MPs are still looking for a legal justification to their decision.

Journalist attacked

Meanwhile, the head of Iraq’s union of journalists was slightly injured in a bombing yesterday of the union’s headquarters in Baghdad.

Mouyyad Al-Lami had taken over the job as the head of the union after an earlier chief, Shihab Al-Timimi, was shot and killed in an ambush in February. Journalists have frequently been targeted or caught up in attacks in Iraq.

Al-Lami had just met with some guests in his office when the bomb exploded at the gates to the building, said Sabah Abdullah, a union official who witnessed the attack. Al-Lami suffered light injuries and was back in his office later in the day, while two union guards were also injured, Abdullah said.