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Baghdad- The political arena is witnessing Iraq A heated debate over the draft amendment to the general amnesty law, with the positions of political and popular forces varying between supporters and opponents.
Although the first reading of the draft law was completed inside the parliament last Sunday, it was not without arguments and bargaining that spilled over into the street, between the tears of mothers pleading for the return of their children and warnings against repeating the policy of “whitewashing prisons that the previous regime followed.”
Lawyer and legal expert Osama Adnan Khadir says that everyone is waiting for the general amnesty law presented in the halls of parliament, and that the main dispute today is over Article Four, which is related to defining affiliation with terrorist organizations.
The crux of the matter
Speaking to Al Jazeera Net, Khadir explained that terrorist organizations were divided into two types: the first before 2007, which is Al-Qaida organizationThe second is after 2024, which is the organization ofISIS (Islamic State) terrorist.
And so, he says, this was the point of contention, noting that within their work as lawyers there are many cases of innocent people and others “who have blood on their hands and cannot be released.”
Khadir added that some prisoners were sentenced under Article 4 of the Anti-Terrorism Law for “simple” reasons, including their names being on the papers or lists of terrorist organizations, or they were arrested through information from a secret informant without any legal evidence proving their terrorist work.
According to the lawyer, during the time of the previous regime, there were laws that issued a general amnesty and “cleaned prisons, whether the prisoners were murderers or others, but today a mechanism has been put in place to sort between them, and we hope that the House of Representatives will vote on the law in the correct form, far from disagreements, because it is important.”
For his part, citizen Karar Abbas (engineer) stressed that the needs of society are great and there is a need to develop plans to integrate prisoners into it in light of the challenges of unemployment and the lack of job opportunities. He told Al Jazeera Net that he supports the general amnesty law and the release of “innocents” and those who had good behavior during their sentences, with the exception of terrorists and those whose hands were stained with the blood of innocents, pointing out “the need for a rehabilitation program for those who will be included in this law.”
In the opinion of the Iraqi Amal Fakhri Khalaf, there are many segments of the Iraqi people waiting for this law to be enacted “because there are many oppressed people in prisons and their families are living in difficult circumstances,” stressing “the importance of releasing all innocent people.”
The citizen told Al Jazeera Net that many of the prisoners “are competent and were thrown into prisons based on denunciations or forced confessions, which destroyed their future.” She called on parliament and the government to “speed up the enactment of the law and restore life to many young Iraqis and families.”
Pros and cons
As for the citizen Ali Bashar, he confirmed to Al Jazeera Net that the general amnesty law has positive aspects in terms of releasing all innocent people and reducing the expenses and financial costs provided to prisoners, adding, “But at the same time, it will allow the release of criminals who deserve the death penalty.”
For her part, citizen Hamdiya Hassan (who has a son sentenced to 91 years in prison) says that if the innocence of her children is proven, she (and the guardians) demand that the law include them. She added – to Al Jazeera Net – that she spent huge sums of money to discover her son's final fate “until despair and boredom entered their hearts” and demanded that the relevant authorities do them justice.
For his part, citizen Adnan Khadir Hamoud said that they are anticipating the enactment of this law because it is “fair and different from the laws of the previous regime, which included all prisoners without discrimination between criminals and the oppressed.” He explained to Al Jazeera Net that they do not want this law to include “terrorists and criminals, but rather to do justice to those from whom confessions were extracted by force or through denunciation.”
While the citizen Umm Murtada (who preferred not to disclose her name) appealed to the House of Representatives to include the sons of the families in the law “because they are not criminals or embezzlers.” She explained to Al Jazeera Net that her son was sentenced in absentia to 20 years in prison in a case of withdrawing a financial loan and that “an influential party figure is behind the case.”
In turn, citizen Fatima Jabr Shatti appealed to the Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani The House of Representatives “to legislate a general amnesty law”, noting that “her son is imprisoned without guilt and is being tortured in prisons and needs to be included in the amnesty because his wife, daughters and mother are mentally ill as a result of the situation of their head of household.”
She told Al Jazeera Net that she had tried repeatedly to meet Al-Sudani, but was not lucky. She said that her son had been imprisoned for 9 years and sentenced to 91 years in prison, and she demanded that he be retried.
Dialogue and consultation
The legislative authority's view did not differ from the street, as there was a difference in viewpoints between those who supported, opposed, or had reservations about the wording of the draft law.
In the opinion of Zainab Jumaa, a representative of the “Al-Fatah” coalition, if the date of the general amnesty law is delayed or advanced, it will inevitably be approved, indicating that “there are many innocent prisoners behind bars and the time has come to release them.”
She added that they are seeking to bring good news to the prisoners and their families in the coming days by enacting the law, noting that the parliament has completed its first reading and they will study it well in consultation with specialized legal experts in preparation for presenting it for the second reading and discussion. She stressed that “the law will be voted on with open hearts after its completion and in a manner that serves the interests of the Iraqi people.”
For his part, the Sunni MP and member of the Parliamentary Security and Defense Committee, Ahmed Al-Mashhadani, said that the law will only include the innocent and that those “whose hands are stained with the blood of Iraqis will not be able to benefit from it.”
He stressed to Al Jazeera Net that those who doubt and reject the law should rest assured, because the representatives are also “harmed by terrorist groups and will not allow the defense of criminals,” pointing out that there are innocent people in prisons as a result of denunciation or – for personal reasons – they were accused of belonging to terrorist groups or confessions were extracted through pressure and coercion.
He stressed that the law needs a dialogue session between all parties, and that the committee will listen to all opinions and discuss them to come up with a law that achieves its desired goal.
For his part, Moeen Al-Kadhimi, a representative of the Badr bloc, confirmed that the draft law that arrived from the government “is nothing more than a definition of individuals belonging to terrorist organizations.” He explained to Al Jazeera Net that their vision, which was presented inside the parliament, was to include this definition in the anti-terrorism law and not in the general amnesty law.
Alaa Sabah Al-Haidari, a representative of the Al-Fatah Alliance, agreed with him, stressing their reservations about the draft law, and explaining to Al Jazeera Net that it did not include any category except terrorist organizations, “and the truth is that it is not possible to sort out between members of extremist organizations like these.”
If the law is passed, the MP continues, “the matter is dangerous and will become a future norm in the form of the formation of terrorist organizations that work against the state, and the scenario of releasing their members could be repeated,” calling for the need for members of Parliament to pay attention to this point.
