Halbusi challenges legality of Supreme Court decision

Mohammed Al-Halbusi has disputed the legality of the Federal Supreme Court decision to oust him from parliament. But it is unclear what steps he plans to take to overturn the verdict.

Following yesterday’s surprise FSC decision, Halbusi appeared in front of the cameras this afternoon to lay out his case for why the Supreme Court’s ruling was invalid. Speaking for nearly 40 minutes, Halbusi’s argument in a nutshell was that the FSC lacks the jurisdiction to strip him of his membership in parliament.

Halbusi cited Article 52 of the constitution, which states that any challenge to an MP’s membership should be taken up by parliament itself through a vote in the chamber, and that the FSC’s role is limited to adjudicating in the case of an appeal. Halbusi argued that the FSC had bypassed the process set out in Article 52 when it ruled on his membership in parliament. The legal basis for the FSC’s decision is not entirely clear because the full ruling has yet to be published.