Former Kurdish MP says illness no longer life-threatening

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Kazim Faruq, a former member of the Kurdistan Regional parliament, on Monday released a video statement saying that his condition was no longer life-threatening, vowing to reveal the “secrets and truth” about those who claimed that the reports regarding his health were lies.

Speaking from what seems to be a hospital bed, the former head of the New Generation Movement (NGM) bloc in the Kurdish parliament made his first media appearance since disappearing from the public eye over a year ago, through a video published on his Facebook page.

“After more than a year of receiving treatment and medicine, thanks be to God, the doctors here in Jordan have told me that my life is no longer in danger,” said Faruq, appearing to have lost a lot of weight since his last public outing, adding that he is set to be discharged from the hospital in the upcoming days.

The exact condition of the former MP is yet to be revealed, but his family said in October that he was dealing with internal bleeding and that medical reports had concluded he had been “poisoned.”

“It appears that God Almighty this time did not allow the secrets of the black hand that has proclaimed itself the savior of the people to be buried. God willing, after my surgery, I will reveal all the evidence, secrets, and truth to the people of the Kurdistan and the public opinion,” said Faruq without naming any parties in particular.

Faruq’s departure from the public eye caused a lot of tension between him and his party, the NGM, who casted doubt on the legitimacy of his illness.

NGM leader Shaswar Abdulwahid had repeatedly claimed that the news regarding Faruq’s health were “lies” stressing that the former MP had been living with his family in the UK since March 2022. The party in October called on Faruq to stop accepting his salaries as an MP and “return the money which he has received for the last year and seven months” due to his inactivity.

Faruq first announced that he was facing health problems in a Facebook post in January 2022 without getting into specifics. Another statement published on his account in June 2022 said that medical reports from hospitals abroad had shown that “a strange and unexpected reason” had led to Faruq’s illness.

The MP had been banned from attending parliamentary meetings since March 2021, after he threw a shoe at the legislature’s speaker and her deputies during a session.