Portugal’s Public Prosecutor has insisted on interviewing the twin sons of the Iraqi ambassador, Saad Mohammed Ali, stating that it is essential that the Iraqis’ diplomatic immunity be lifted.
The Public Prosecutor's Office, through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, has forwarded its file on the vicious assault on Rúben Cavaco in Ponte de Sor, Portalegre, after Iraq had claimed it was "premature to take a decision" on lifting the diplomatic immunity covering the ambassador's children as its diplomats had not had access to the case against the twins.
"In October the Iraqi State reiterated, in a reply sent through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, its willingness to cooperate in the full clarification of the facts and considered, given the stage of the investigation process and the impossibility of accessing the file, that it was premature to take a decision with regard to the request for the waiver of diplomatic immunity.
"This is why the Public Prosecutor's Office decided, despite the inquiry being held in secrecy, to inform the Iraqi State about the contents of the case," reads a note from the Attorney General's Office Sent to the Iraqis on Wednesday, December 7th.
The Public Prosecutor also says it’s essential for the clarification of the facts, to hear Heider and Rhida Ali as official defendants and it is therefore essential that their diplomatic immunity be lifted.
On August 17th, 2016, Rúben Cavaco was attacked in Ponte de Sor by the twin 17-year-old sons of the Iraqi ambassador and suffered multiple fractures, later being transferred from the local health center to the Hospital de Santa Maria in Lisbon where he was placed in an induced coma. Cavaco was discharged in early September and has been recovering at home.
The government’s hope that this case quietly will be brushed under the diplomatic carpet is being thwarted by the Public Prosecutor’s Office which is doing its job in asking for the immunity waiver as it builds a case against the twins.
