IRBIL, Iraq: Jalal Talabani, the former Kurdish leader and Iraq’s first president under its postwar Constitution, who died in Germany on Tuesday aged 83, was laid to rest in the Kurdish city of Sulaimaniya on Friday.
Iraqi officials reportedly said that Talabani's body should have been transported to Baghdad first for an official funeral before sending the coffin to Sulaimaniya, but Talabani's family refused to allow his body to be taken to the Iraqi capital.
Special dispensation was required to allow the flight carrying Talabani’s body to land in Sulaimaniya, as the Iraqi government
imposed a ban on all international flights to Kurdistan following last week’s referendum in which people in northern Iraq voted in favor of Kurdish independence.
While the national anthems of both Iraq and Kurdistan were played at Talabani’s funeral, his coffin was draped in the Kurdish flag, which Reuters reported “sparked a wave of protests on media close to Shi’ite political groups.” Reuters added that Al-Etejah TV stopped its broadcast of the ceremony “because the coffin was not draped by the Iraqi flag.”
Talabani was a longtime advocate of Kurdish self-determination, and held the office of Iraqi president from 2005, following the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, until 2014.
Leaders of Iraqi Kurdistan — President Masoud Barzani and Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani – attended the funeral, alongside Iraqi
President Fuad Masum, interior minister Qasim al-Araji, and the Speaker of the Iraqi Parliament, Salim Al-Jabouri.
The Iranian Foreign Minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, was the most senior foreign official present at the ceremony.
Kurdish flag sparks controversy at former Iraqi president’s funeral
Kurdish flag sparks controversy at former Iraqi president’s funeral
MSF says it will not share staff details demanded by Israel to access Gaza
- The aid groups say sharing such staff information could pose a safety risk
- Aid agencies dispute that substantial aid has been diverted
GENEVA: Medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres said on Friday it will not submit lists of staff demanded by Israel to maintain access to Gaza and the West Bank, saying it had not been able to obtain assurances over the safety of its teams.
MSF, which supports and helps staff hospitals in Gaza, is one of 37 international organizations that Israel ordered this month to stop work in the Palestinian territories unless they meet new rules including providing employee details.
The aid groups say sharing such staff information could pose a safety risk, pointing to the hundreds of aid workers who were killed or injured during the two-year Gaza war.
Israel’s diaspora ministry, which manages the registration process, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Israel has previously said the registrations were meant to prevent diversions of aid by Palestinian armed groups. Aid agencies dispute that substantial aid has been diverted.
MSF had said last week it would be prepared to share a partial list of Palestinian and international staff who had agreed to release that information, provided the list be used only for administrative purposes and not put its team at risk. It also said it wanted to retain control over the management of medical humanitarian supplies.
“However, despite repeated efforts, it became evident in recent days that we were unable to build engagement with Israeli authorities on the concrete assurances required,” MSF said in a statement.
It said there could be a devastating impact on humanitarian services if it is banned from operating in Gaza and the West Bank, amid the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
