Iraqi Oil Leaders Taken to Court

Hassan Juma, president of Iraqi Federation of Oil Unions, and Faleh Abood Umara, the federation's general secretary, were accused of impeding the work at oil developments in Basra and urging workers to stand against senior management, according to a statement by Umara that recounts his two recent arrests, one in March and another earlier this month.

According to oil officials, the union leaders have made threatening remarks directed at foreign oil companies, thereby harming the country's economy. Oil unions are technically illegal in Iraq, a holdover policy from the Saddam Hussein regime.

The problem is that the unionists instigate the public against the plans of the Oil Ministry and its ambitions to develop (Iraq's) oil riches using foreign development, said Oil Ministry Spokesman Assem Jihad. The unionists operate illegally because we still do not have a law to regulate the work of the unions.

Tensions between oil workers and the Iraqi government have remained high since a strike and demonstration in late March at the South Refineries Company headquarters near Basra. Workers then were calling for a greater percentage of the company's budget to go to employees, and for key members of the administration to be sacked.

Those requests were met with threats of a security crackdown to be enforced by the Iraqi Army. The Oil Ministry also transferred five unionist workers from the Basra refinery to the Baghdad office of the Iraqi Drilling Co., in an apparent effort to reign them in.

These latest charges were first brought, Juma said, based on remarks he made about labor rights, which were quoted in an online Iraqi publication. He said authorities told him his remarks were tantamount to threats again foreign oil companies.

"I was not arrested", Juma said, but he was given a letter from the SOC ordering him to "listen to the charges by the investigator judge."

The labor leader said he has paid a bail of five million dinars (nearly $4,300), and has yet to learn when he will face the charges in court.

"The development in my case now is that about two weeks ago the oil minister agreed to defer my case to go through the legal procedures", Juma said. "This is a very routine procedure if there is a charge against any employees in the state office."

He has also filed a countersuit, he said, against Iraq's Minister of Oil Hussein al-Shahristani.

Umara, for his part, said that authorities summoned him to court but have failed to prove any wrongdoing.

"The lawsuit was set up by the Oil Ministry, and then the SOC informed me when I did not go [to court] then a warrant of arrest was issued against me. I spent two days in a police station in Basra called "Al-Asmaei police station" and then was released on bail," Umara said. "They weren't able to find solid evidence to convict me of any of the charges."

Oil unions formed since 2003 have successfully blocked privatization of infrastructure and briefly stopped work in 2007 during protests against a draft oil law they viewed as too friendly to foreign oil companies. Arrest warrants were issued but not acted on. In response to such dissent, workers are often fired or moved to different jobs.

Union leaders have said they welcome international oil companies but are wary of a return to an oil sector utterly dominated by foreigners, as was the case until Iraq nationalized its industry in the 1970s.

Iraqi staff reporting from Basra and Baghdad are anonymous for their security.