Iraqi archbishop issues new denial of lawsuit claims

Archbishop Warda expressed ‘great astonishment’ at the complaint filed in a U.S. court.

An Iraqi archbishop issued a fresh denial Sunday of corruption allegations made in a lawsuit filed in a U.S. court in response to what he described as “highly sensationalized” reporting on the case.

Archbishop Bashar Warda, the Archbishop of Erbil, Iraq, pictured in 2011. © Mazur/catholicchurch.org.uk.

In statement sent March 30 to The Pillar, Archbishop Bashar Warda expressed “great astonishment” at the filing of a lawsuit by Iraqi-American businesswoman Sara Saleem, which alleged the Archbishop of Erbil was complicit in her 2014 kidnapping in Iraq.

The lawsuit, filed Feb. 13 in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, claims that Warda “facilitated, through his connections to Iran-backed militias such as Rayan al Kildani’s Babylon Brigades, the scheme to extort, kidnap, torture, and attempt to kill” Saleem — an allegation the archbishop has previously categorically denied.

Warda said he had been “unjustly” included on a list of 16 defendants accused of varying degrees of involvement in efforts to undermine Saleem’s business interests in Iraq.

“She falsely accuses us of obstructing the course of the Iraqi judiciary and influencing the proceedings of a case she filed against her business partners,” Warda noted.

“She also alleges without evidence that we bribed a prominent political and community leader who is widely respected in Iraqi society in order to facilitate the release of her opponents.”

“We categorically and unequivocally reject these false and defamatory accusations,” Warda’s statement said.

The 56-page lawsuit says that Saleem, an Iraqi-born U.S. citizen of Kurdish descent, was kidnapped in the southern Iraqi city of Basra on Sept. 8, 2014, and held captive for a month, during which she was tortured. She escaped and returned to the U.S.

When she returned to Iraq three years later, she became embroiled in a complex legal battle that included lawsuits filed against her by her former business partners, the Hanna brothers, who she began to suspect of involvement in her kidnapping.

In his statement, the archbishop addressed Saleem’s claim that he interceded on behalf of the brothers, who, the lawsuit says, were convicted of criminally defrauding Saleem in July 2023 and sentenced to three years in prison.

The lawsuit alleges that Archbishop Warda vouched for the brothers with Nechirvan Barzani, president of Iraq’s Kurdistan Region, “passing along a bribe to Barzani on the Hanna brothers’ behalf,” and persuading him to secure the brothers’ release ahead of a retrial. The brothers were released on bail in November 2024 and acquitted in February by Iraq’s Chief Justice Faiq Zidane.

Warda said that one of Iraqi clergy’s fundamental roles was to help resolve disputes before they reach court.

“We engage in this role openly and freely to all those who come seeking such assistance in good will,” he said.

“This is exactly what we did when the respected lady’s partners approached us seeking help to resolve their conflict with her.”

The archbishop went on: “We made efforts to bring the two parties closer and contacted her in an attempt to achieve reconciliation. Unfortunately, these efforts were unsuccessful, and both parties turned to the Iraqi judiciary, which has held jurisdiction over the dispute ever since.”

“We reaffirm that the Church has never been — and will never be — a party that obstructs the path of justice. On the contrary, it will always remain an open and mediating platform for all people, regardless of religion or affiliation. The Church speaks truth, defends the oppressed, and supports the independence and integrity of the Iraqi judiciary.”

Warda issued his most recent statement following a March 29 report by the Catholic news site Crux, headlined “Erbil archbishop named in federal lawsuit targeting Iraqi mob.”

Warda appealed to observers of the legal dispute “to approach this case with accuracy and objectivity, and to consider all aspects before drawing ill-formed conclusions and becoming sources of further division and calumny within the community.”

“We specifically note a highly sensationalized recent article which has since been forced to retract claims regarding funding allegedly received by the archdiocese,” he said.

“This retraction was made necessary due to its being factually false and is representative of the division and harm that can be caused through reckless and poorly researched reporting.”

The Pillar understands that Warda was referring to a passage initially included in the Crux report concerning the archbishop’s 2018 visit to the White House for a ceremony in which President Donald Trump signed the Iraq and Syria Genocide Relief and Accountability Act into law. The article reportedly referred to a $6.8 million award that followed the event.

Crux removed the passage and later added a note indicating the report had been updated.

Elise Ann Allen, the report’s author, told The Pillar via email March 30: “We made an editorial decision to remove a reference to USAID funding due to complexities we didn’t have space to unpack.”

Crux’s managing editor Charles Collins said in a March 30 email to The Pillar that the archbishop did not respond to a request to answer several questions ahead of the report’s publication.

Warda, a member of the Redemptorist order, is a well-known figure among Catholics worldwide due to his extensive travels to raise awareness of the plight of Iraq’s Christians.

He is one of the most prominent members of the Chaldean Catholic Church, one of the 23 Eastern Catholic Churches in full communion with Rome and the largest of Iraq’s Christian communities.

The Chaldean Catholic hierarchy has been hampered by divisions in recent years.

Cardinal Louis Raphaël Sako, the Chaldean Church’s leader, said in September 2024 that he had filed a canonical complaint against several bishops, including Warda.

Sako had previously criticized the Chaldean bishops for skipping a July 2024 episcopal synod, which bishops are ordinarily required by canon law to attend, and an August 2024 spiritual retreat.

The cardinal is based in the capital, Baghdad, while Warda lives in the relative Christian safe haven of Iraqi Kurdistan, in the north of the country.

The U.S. lawsuit, which mentions Warda 16 times, alleges he is a “close associate” of Rayan al-Kildani, the head of Iraq’s Babylon Movement political party, who clashed publicly with Sako before the cardinal left Baghdad in 2023 for nine months of self-imposed exile in the Kurdistan Region.

In a November 2024 interview with The Pillar, Warda addressed claims that he is close to al-Kildani, who was added to a U.S. Treasury Department sanctions list in 2019.

The archbishop said: “I am not a politician, I am a bishop, and as such my door is open to everyone.”

“Of course, it should be said that Rayan al-Kildani works in Baghdad, not in Erbil, politically he is completely outside of my region.”

“But people should know that I have welcomed, and will welcome, anyone, because the role of the Church is to be a bridge of peace and reconciliation.”

“Throughout history, and especially recent history, the Catholic Church has played a role in really creating an atmosphere of reconciliation, and as far as I know, there was no Vatican decree listing names of people the Church cannot deal with internationally or locally.”

Concluding his March 30 statement, Warda said: “Regarding the defamatory and misleading accusations made against us in the United States, we intend to vigorously oppose these claims in the proper forum where we are confident the truth of this matter will be made clear in due course.”

“The Church has always been — and will always remain — a home for everyone, and its mission will continue to be one of reconciliation, justice, and peace.”