Iraq withdraws its ambassador in Lisbon for a scandal with his children

Iraq has decided to withdraw its ambassador to Lisbon, Saad Mohammed Ali, on understanding that “he is not in a position” to remain in the country after the controversy surrounding his children for an alleged assault on a Portuguese teenager.

The Portuguese Foreign Minister, Augusto Santos Silva, unveiled this Thursday at a press conference the decision of the Iraqi authorities, who have refused to lift the diplomatic immunity that protects the ambassador's children, which prevents them from being tried in Portugal.

The twin sons of the ambassador, Haider and Ridha, 17, assumed in a television interview to be the perpetrators of a brutal aggression suffered in August by the Portuguese Rúben Cavaco, 15, but are protected by his father's diplomatic immunity.

The Portuguese Government then asked Iraq to withdraw diplomatic immunity from the two young men so that they could be interrogated by the Prosecutor's Office and even threatened to declare the ambassador “non grata” person and expel him from Portugal if they did not.

After months of diplomatic contacts, the Iraqi authorities have decided that “there are no reasons” to lift the immunity of the two young people, Santos Silva explained, who said that the judicial process involving the diplomat's children will continue from Now in Iraq.

The minister considered that the solution found is positive because it prevents Portugal from having to declare the Iraqi ambassador “non grata” person and ensures that the judicial process will continue.

The Iraqi ambassador had already reached an out-of-court settlement last week with the family of the attacked minor to pay compensation in exchange for no charges. This agreement, considered “fair” by the family, does not end the judicial process because it is a crime of public aggression.