Leaked pictures of French President spark inquiry from Iraqi officials

An Iraqi official demanded Saturday an “immediate investigation” into the leak of pictures allegedly showing the passport and visa page of French President Francois Hollande, Al Arabiya reporter Jawad al-Hatab reported.

The images, which flooded social media platforms, revealed personal details of the president, including his height as well as details of the visa Hollande was granted to enter Iraq on Sept. 12.

Iraqi MP Hanan al-Fatlawi said the leaks were “unacceptable” and call for an “immediate investigation” to arrest the individual responsible for distributing the images.

Passport

“The leaks from someone inside the airport in Baghdad of the pictures of the passport of President Francois Hollande and his visa from are unacceptable,” she wrote on her Facebook page, adding that the incident would not have happened in another country.

Fatlawi requested “an immediate investigation and the punishment of the responsible to avoid such incidents again.”

Social media reactions

The two previously-unseen documents of Hollande generated derisive reactions from media users.

One twitter user said that the French president’s passport picture “isn’t that bad.”

Speaking about Hollande’s height, one twitter user said: “1.70m? Have they lied to us?” while another user sarcastically wrote in French “with or without heels?”

The pictures cannot be independently verified by Al Arabiya News.

On Friday, Hollande traveled to Iraq to attend an international conference on Iraq’s security crisis and offer support to leaders combating militants from the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

Hollande’s trip was the highest-profile visit to Iraq since ISIS-led militants overran large parts of the country in June and sparked international concern over an expanding extremist threat.