BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- A man sentenced to death in Kuwait for the 1983
bombings of the U.S. and French embassies now sits in Iraq's parliament as
a member of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's ruling coalition, according to
U.S. military intelligence.

Jamal Jafaar Mohammed's seat in parliament gives him immunity from
prosecution. Washington says he supports Shiite insurgents and acts as an
Iranian agent in Iraq.

U.S. military intelligence in Iraq has approached al-Maliki's government
with the allegations against Jamal Jafaar Mohammed, whom it says assists
Iranian special forces in Iraq as "a conduit for weapons and political
influence."

Repeated efforts by CNN to reach Jamal Jafaar Mohammed for comment through
the parliament, through the ruling Shiite Muslim coalition and the Badr
Organization -- the Iranian-backed paramilitary organization he once led --
have been unsuccessful.

A Kuwaiti court sentenced Jamal Jafaar Mohammed to death in 1984 in the car
bombings of the U.S. and French embassies the previous December. Five
people died in the attacks and 86 were wounded.

He had fled the country before the trial.

Western intelligence agencies also accuse Jamal Jafaar Mohammed of
involvement in the hijacking of a Kuwaiti airliner in 1984 and the
attempted assassination of a Kuwaiti prince.

Jamal Jafaar Mohammed won a seat in Iraq's Council of Representatives in
the U.S.-backed elections of December 2005. He represents Babil province,
south of Baghdad, in parliament.

A U.S. Embassy spokesman said officials are actively pursuing Jamal Jafaar
Mohammed's case with Iraqi officials. Al-Maliki has urged American
intelligence officials to share their information with Iraqi lawmakers, who
could strip Jamal Jafaar Mohammed of his parliamentary immunity.

"We don't want parliament to be a shelter for outlaws and wanted people,"
al-Maliki told CNN. "This is the government's view, but the parliament is
responsible. I don't think parliament will accept having people like [him]
or others currently in the parliament."

Al-Maliki's political party, Dawa, claimed responsibility for the Kuwait
bombings at the time but now disavows them. The Iranian-backed Shiite
Muslim party was forced into exile under former dictator Saddam Hussein,
who was executed in December.

The prime minister says the situation is embarrassing -- not only to his
government but to a U.S. administration that holds up Iraq's government as
a democratic model for the region.
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