Iraqi backer of Israel fears for life

BAGHDAD, Sept. 16 (UPI) -- A Sunni Iraqi lawmaker who was banned from leaving the country for speaking at an Israeli counter-terrorism conference believes he will be killed, sources said.

The Iraqi Parliament this week revoked immunity for Mithal al-Alusi, a secular Sunni lawmaker, banned him from leaving the country and barred him from parliamentary sessions for speaking at the Herzliya Institute for Policy and Strategy near Tel Aviv.

Alusi is the head of the Democratic Party of the Iraqi Nation. His visit to Israel was his third visit to the state, where he called for stronger ties between Baghdad and Tel Aviv in the fight against terrorism.

"It is not enough that Israel has good intelligence and the U.S. has good intelligence, we need to come together and have all intelligence systems cooperate," he said last week.

Alusi was ousted from the Iraqi National Congress by Ahmed Chalabi, a former adviser to U.S. forces in Iraq, for his relationship with Israel. Alusi is also an outspoken critic of Iran.

"He believes he will be killed, but he will not stop working toward democracy," said Esther Kandel, described by the conservative monthly American Spectator as a close friend of the lawmaker. He "still goes to his party's office and bravely faces down his enemies in the streets and in Parliament."

Two of the lawmaker's sons were murdered following his first visit to Israel in 2004.