US Attorney Says Trial Of Mohammad Munaf Is Stalling Because Of Romanian Authorities

In a letter addressed to the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights of the United Nations, attorney Amy L. Hanf required members of the UN Human Rights Committee to impose measures prompting Romania to respond to requests of an Iraqi court, as the investigation in Baghdad is halted because of Romania’s lack of cooperation.

The attorney said Munaf is still in detained in Camp Cropper in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, but was not reachable directly. The letter adds that after his death sentence was overthrown by Iraq’s Federal Cassation Court, Munaf’s case was sent back to the Iraqi Central Criminal Court for a new investigation.

The Iraqi court, the letter states, has requested new testimonies from the three Romanian journalists kidnapped in Iraq in 2005, Marie Jeanne Ion, Sorin Miscoci and Ovidiu Ohanesian. According to the attorney, the Iraqi court sent several letters to Romanian authorities in this respect but received no answer. After six months, Romanian authorities offered to allow the Iraqi investigation judge to come to Romania and take the testimony there, but the Iraqi court responded that Iraqi investigation rules and criminal procedure would not allow testimony to be taken outside of Iraq.

The Iraqi court thus requested that the three journalists give testimony via satellite transmission from Romania to Iraq, but has not yet received any answer from the Romanian government. As a result, Iraqi authorities cannot proceed with the investigation and Munaf’s detention, that has been ongoing for nearly four years, will continue until Romania responds to the testimony request.

The attorney, who works for law firm Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi, also said in his letter that the matter was brought to the attention of the Romanian Embassy in Washington D.C., but telephone calls, e-mails and letters sent via certified mail remained unanswered.

The letter reminds that in December 2006, the UN Human Rights Committee requested Romania to “ensure to the extent possible and through whatever channels it deems appropriate, to adopt all necessary measures to ensure that the life, safety and personal integrity of Mohammad Munaf and his family are protected".

At the time, Munaf had been sentenced to death by hanging in Iraq for the kidnapping of three Romanian journalists, but his sentence was later overturned by a higher court.

In April 2008, the Bucharest Court of Appeals sentenced Munaf to ten years in prison and deprivation of rights for an additional five years after he serves his sentence. However, the court rejected the request to expel Munaf, charged with acts of terror, from Romanian territory after he serves his sentence, under article 8 of the European convention of Human Rights and Law 194 of 2002 regarding the status of foreigners in Romania.

The court also ordered Munaf to pay moral damages of EUR2 million to each of the three journalists kidnapped in Iraq and RON100,000 in legal costs.

 

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