Iraq has failed to answer Portugal’s request for the lifting of diplomatic immunity from the twin sons of the ambassador to Portugal who beat a young man from Pont de Sor, Alentejo.
The Iraqi embassy said today that "it is still too early to make a decision regarding the application to waive immunity."
"Iraq understands and respects fully the applicable legal procedures, conducted by Portuguese judicial authorities" and said it shows a "willingness to cooperate to establish a full clarification of the facts."
"The sons of the Iraqi Ambassador are available in Lisbon to be heard in the ongoing investigation," reads today's communiqué, adding that the embassy "welcomed the timely information provided on the judicial procedure and Portuguese law."
The Iraqi authorities considered it "premature to take a decision" on the application by Portugal to lift diplomatic immunity of the Iraq's ambassador children involved in an assault on a youth in Pont de Sor in August.
The Portuguese government had extended the deadline until today for an Iraqi response to the request, originally made on 25 August.
If Iraq did not respond, or denied the request, Portugal’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Santos Silva, said he would have to resort to declaring the twins ‘persona non grata' to ensure they cooperated fully in a police investigation.
"As I have said from the beginning, Portugal will use all the instruments available under international law," declared Silva.
Rúben Cavaco, the lad that was so savagely beaten that he needed reconstructive surgery to his face, is making a good recovery at home now that he has left the Santa Maria hospital in Lisbon.
Cavaco’s mother, Vilma Pires, said "it is important not to forget" that the two brothers are "assumed perpetrators of barbaric aggression" and "have stated publicly that they intend to respond" in any investigation.
“Now what I would like to know is, whether the Portuguese Government is preparing to close the case and expel the twins from Portuguese territory, " said Pires.
The Iraqi ambassador to Portugal, has paid the €12,000 hospital bill but is understood not to have offered recompense to Rúben Cavaco whose family said the payment of the hospital bill was a gesture of goodwill, but continue to insist that the twins are punished.
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