The Case of the American National Arrested in Erbil for Extortion

It was a hot summer’s day in Erbil where police descended on a café and arrested an American national on charges of fraud, based on Article 456 of the penal code, according to an arrest warrant issued on August 11, 2022.

Three months on, there has been no local or international media coverage of the incident, until US-based researcher Michael Knights of the Washington Institute highlighted this case in a comment on Twitter, criticising the US Ambassador for visiting the newly appointed Minister of Defence Thabit al-Abbasi, saying: “This guy got an American citizen arrested in Erbil on the orders of Faiq Zaydan on Aug 13: The Amcit is still unlawfully detained nine weeks later”.

The following details of what transpired are based on first-hand accounts from sources with direct knowledge of the incident who asked to remain anonymous.

Mr. S. F. Shaker, using the alias Anwar al-Zamani, a native of Fallujah and naturalized US citizen, travels to Iraq frequently and resides in Erbil. In the aftermath of last year’s election and the political deadlock that followed, Shaker wasted no time in executing an audacious plan to blackmail Iraq’s most senior judicial figure and head of the Higher Judicial Council, Faiq Zaidan.

Al-Zamani contacted the Deputy Governor of Ninawa, AbdulKadir al-Dikheel, told him that Zaidan’s position as head of the judiciary was under threat because the now defunct tripartite alliance, made up of the Sadrist Bloc, Kurdistan Democratic Party, and Siyada Coalition, were unhappy with Zaidan and were planning to oust him as soon as their majority government is formed. Claiming to have close connections with western intelligence agencies, al-Zamani told the deputy governor that he could utilize his links to help ensure that Zaidan remained in office. The cost for this service, he told al-Dikheel, was 20 million USD.

With this information in hand, the deputy governor spoke to a judge in Ninawa and gave him all the details, and the judge subsequently spoke with the current Minister of Defence, Thabit al-Abbasi, a friend of Zaidan, who was an MP at the time.

Negotiations started with al-Zamani, and they eventually agreed to pay him two million USD. Al-Zamani was invited to go to Baghdad to receive his money in return for his service, where unbeknown to him, police were ready to arrest him upon arrival at Baghdad International Airport. However, al-Zamani did not fly to Baghdad. He was tipped off about the details of the operation by his friend with strong links to the Iraqi government – an American analyst who works for a DC-based think tank.

Al-Zamani did not relent, called the deputy governor and complained about the trap in Baghdad, so he demanded a safer place to meet to complete the deal, and they agreed that the meeting would take place in Erbil. On August 13, al-Zamani was at a café when the Erbil law enforcement agency, the Asayish, arrested him based on an arrest warrant issued by a court in Ninawa on August 11, a copy of which this author has seen and confirmed its authenticity with sources in the Iraqi judiciary.

The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) is now caught in a difficult situation. It cannot release Shaker and allow him to travel back to the US for fear that they upset Zaidan. Nor can they transfer him to Baghdad to face justice due to pressure from the US Consulate in Erbil. They also cannot detain Shaker indefinitely without trial.

Having spent three months in detention, Shaker’s case has not made either local or international news due to the sensitivity of the behind-the-scenes negotiations taking place between American diplomats, KRG officials, and representatives of Iraq’s judiciary. How this will ultimately play out will depend on the ongoing negotiations taking place in both Baghdad and Erbil.