Today, Tuesday, the Iraqi presidency responded to the leader of the Sadrist movement, Muqtada al-Sadr, regarding the law criminalizing normalization with the Israeli occupation.

A spokesperson for the Presidency of the Republic said that the President had previously received the draft law (criminalizing normalization with the Zionist entity) sent by the House of Representatives for the purpose of completing the procedures for its issuance and ratification, in accordance with the legal and constitutional mechanisms followed by the Presidency of the Republic for the laws enacted by the House of Representatives.

The spokesperson added that his excellency the President of the Republic, Barham Salih, had given earlier instructions to handle the law that criminalizes normalization in the form sent by the Parliament, stressing that it was published in the Iraqi Gazette on June 20, 2022, to enter into force.

He added that Salih, as it is known, supports the Palestinian cause, endorses the Palestinian people's right to the attainment of their full legitimate rights, and advocates the liberation of their homeland from the occupation of the Zionist entity.

Read next: Al-Sadr: President’s refusal to sign anti-normalization law shameful

Earlier today, Al-Sadr expressed his regret at the nomination of Barham Salih for president, saying that "it is shameful for the Iraqi people that their president is normal, unpatriotic, and dependent on the West or the East."

Al-Sadr accused Salih of refusing to sign the law criminalizing normalization with "Israel".

On May 26,  the Iraqi Parliament voted unanimously on a proposed law criminalizing normalization with the Israeli occupation.

The law aims to "preserve Iraq's national, Islamic and humanitarian principles, given the danger of normalization with the occupied Zionist entity,” according to the Iraqi Parliament. 

The law also aims to "cut the way for anyone who wants to establish any kind of relations with the occupying Zionist entity, to impose a deterrent punishment against him, and to preserve unity among the people."