Baghdad- He faces the so-called tribal customs in IraqA heated debate between those who see it as a manifestation of the state’s weakness and demand an end to it, and those who believe that it is one of the reasons for maintaining security in society and provides a type of positive mediation, with the necessity of avoiding the negative types.
Tribal customs are a common customary judiciary that tribes use to resolve disputes between disputing parties without resorting to state laws. It includes customs, some of which are described as being outside the law. One of the most prominent of these customs that have met with popular rejection is what is known as the “tribal bench.”
According to this custom, dozens of young men and elders of the tribe fire their light and medium weapons directly at the house of the person to be threatened, and chant slogans of pride in their tribe and its strength in front of his house, which prompted the Iraqi Supreme Judicial Council in 2018 to direct dealing with the tribal bench in accordance with the provisions of the Anti-Terrorism Law.
On April 18 of this year, the Ministry of Interior announced, through its spokesman, Brigadier General Muqdad Miri, that the crime of tribal assault had decreased by 77% throughout the country. Miri indicated in an official statement that in the first months of the year, 11 out of 15 governorates were completely free of this crime.
Preserving peace and stopping bloodshed
Advisor to the Iraqi Prime Minister’s Office and tribal expert, Saddam Zamel Al-Atwani, confirmed that “Iraqi tribes have a major role in preserving societal peace, solving problems, and stopping bloodshed,” indicating that after 2003 and during the absence of executive and legislative authority, tribes preserved state property and contributed to resolving disputes between regions.
Al-Atwani told Al Jazeera Net, “The law and the government emerged from the tribes, and those who represent the people inside the parliament are representatives of their tribes.”
He stressed that “the tribes had a major role in confronting the offensive and alien phenomena in society, including the assault on medical and educational cadres, where it was agreed to separate them from the tribes and support the government to deter such behaviors, such as issuing Article Two of the Penal Code regarding the tribal bench practiced by some figures outside the law.”
He added, “There is a directorate for tribes in the Ministry of Interior and a committee in the Council of Ministers for tribes as well as the rest of the security services to achieve cooperation in achieving security preservation,” explaining that “many outlaws threatened community peace and attacked minorities and were deterred by the security forces and tribes.”
In turn, legal expert Muntadhar Abbas points out that “many cases are closed through the clans, with the exception of certain crimes such as murder and criminal offences, even if there is a clan understanding, as the public right remains.”
In his interview with Al Jazeera Net, Abbas considered that “adopting tribal customs is the shortcut for possible cases that do not include a public right, given that resolving problems within the courts may take a long time between court sessions, appeals, cassation, and others.”
Clan and State
The leader of the Al-Sawaed tribe – Al-Kurja clan, Sheikh Hamoudi Aziz Shia Al-Saadi, saw that the tribes are a force for the state and not the opposite.
Al-Saadi told Al Jazeera Net that “the tribes support the state’s efforts to reject and hold accountable cases of firing bullets, tribal violence, and drugs,” stressing that “we have a move to address these matters and are in the process of establishing an internal system under the supervision of Dr. Rahim Salem that is consistent with the state’s decisions to prevent crime.”
He added that “the clan seeks to stop the bloodshed of citizens, and we work to settle blood money and provide advice and guidance in a way that guarantees the rights of all without injustice to any party and in a way that preserves society,” stressing “the rejection of the clan bench and what is known as the pile and random throwing.”
As for the civil activist, Ali Khayoun, he went – contrary to the opinion of his predecessor – to the fact that the tribal customs weakened the state by highlighting the tribal man in the form of a spokesman for the law.
Khayoun told Al Jazeera Net, “According to the latest statistics and monitoring of social media, we found many cases in which the rule of the clan was dominant over the rest of the laws in force, as the citizen no longer resorts to solving problems legally, but rather resorts to violence and clans in negative ways that help to dismantle the social fabric and develop conflicts between members of society.”
He added that “when King Faisal came to Iraq and tried to establish his rule, he encountered many difficulties in controlling the southern tribes, as he decided to enact the Tribal Law of 1924,” but he pointed out that after 2003, tribal customs and culture dominated, which led to the enactment of a government law that ensured the state’s control over the tribes.
He continued, “The Iraqi judiciary and security institutions work legally to preserve society, but tribal customs and separation encourage crime and do not serve Iraqi society.”
Clan system development
Philosophy Professor Dr. Rahim Al-Saadi pointed out that “the citizen is required to make a greater effort to deal within the clan system and not outside it to avoid mistakes in accordance with the progress taking place in the world in a way that helps society.”
Al-Saadi said in an interview with Al Jazeera Net, “The Sunnahs are paths to organizing society despite their simplicity, and they need to be matured more strongly through seminars that lead to the enactment of a better law that keeps pace with the times.”
He added that “classifying the work of the clans according to the complexities of the problems is necessary through an internal system that addresses all the new details such as electronic extortion, driving without a license, and others.”
For his part, Sheikh Muntadhar Muhammad Salem points out that governmental, tribal and media education about the importance of respecting the law and not exploiting tribal customs to attack others is necessary to reduce negative phenomena.
Salem told Al Jazeera Net, “There are many tribal traditions that prevent charitable work, such as helping someone who was run over or suffered a health setback in the street, as citizens fear taking him to the hospital for fear of tribal separation and being chased by the injured person’s family.”
He called on the government to enact laws to address such issues, in addition to imposing severe penalties on those who attack medical and educational personnel and other state employees.
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