Spanish Royal Merit Award presented to Iraq's top judicial cooperation official

BAGHDAD, Iraq — Iraq's Higher Judicial Council announced that Judge Ali Hussein Jawdat, head of the National Center for International Judicial Cooperation, received the Royal Order of Merit with the rank of White Honour at an official ceremony in Madrid on July 1, 2026. According to the council, the Spanish decoration recognized the Iraqi judiciary's efforts in counterterrorism and what it described as the decisive role of bilateral judicial cooperation in foiling terror plots targeting the Kingdom of Spain. The award was delivered to Judge Ali Hussein Jawdat on behalf of the Higher Judicial Council. The council said the decoration was conferred under Spain's Royal Decree of June 18, 1943, and the relevant law of April 29, 1964. No further details on the broader context of the recognition were immediately provided.