This week, the news broke that the Iraqi Minister of Defense is a Swedish citizen and registered in a Stockholm suburb. The information has appeared in Iraqi media in the past and was confirmed on Friday by Sweden's Foreign Minister Peter Hultqvist.
On Saturday night, the Iraqi Ministry of Defense posted a post on Facebook that goes against what is described as false information.
Without explicitly describing the information in question, it is written that "media platforms and suspicious sites have come up with fabricated lying news [...] with the aim of harming the minister's personal and professional life".
However, the Ministry itself makes the connection to the Swedish reporting on the minister, and writes that al-Shammari has hired a Swedish lawyer. That with the threat of suing both Swedish and Arabic newspapers that "raised false claims".
It is permissible for Iraqis to have dual citizenship, but not for persons on high positions according to the country's constitution.
Najah al-Shammari, 52, took over as Iraq's defense minister in June this year. He is reported to be registered in Sweden, but under a different name. According to information from the Swedish Tax Agency, he applied for a residence permit in 2009 and became a Swedish citizen in 2015.
Hundreds of protesters have been killed in the widespread protests that have shaken Iraq lately, and the Defense Minister has been criticized for his role in the violence.