The rule of law has effectively become the benchmark and catalyst for economic growth, underpinning a country`s political legitimacy, laws and economic policies. The underlying concept of the rule of law is not new in Iraq. The famous Hammurabi Code of Law of 1772 BC. It is considered one of the first codified constitutions in the world with the remarkable characteristic that laws take precedence over the authority of the ruler. In February, an Erbil court sentenced five activists and journalists to six years` imprisonment each for actions related to the use of social media and journalistic work, as they undermine the security and sovereignty of the KR-I. All have been charged under laws – including the 2003 National Security Law, the Telecommunications Equipment Prevention Law, and Articles 430 to 433 of the Penal Code – that criminalize vaguely defined acts that are not internationally recognized as crimes. The trial was marred by serious violations of fair trial standards, including convictions based on statements or „confessions“ obtained under duress, failure to provide case documents to defence lawyers in a timely manner, and the absence of an order to investigate the defendants` allegations of torture. In a letter to Amnesty International, the KRG denied that the convictions were related to their work as journalists, but Amnesty International reviewed the evidence on the basis of which they were convicted, revealing that it was exclusively social media posts intended for journalistic work. It should be noted that not all articles of the Penal Code apply in the Kurdistan Region. Article 121(1) of the Iraqi Constitution gives the regional parliament (with exceptions) the right to enact its own laws. On this basis, the Kurdish parliament has already amended certain articles of the penal code that are valid only in the region (UNAMI/OHCHR, December 2021, p.5, footnote 13; see also: Sadaa, 28 September 2021). Local laws reflect that Iraq is a predominantly Islamic country. You must respect local traditions, customs, laws and religious customs at all times, especially during the holy month of Ramadan or when visiting places of religious significance.
The Official Gazette of the Government of Iraq (al-waqa`i al-iraqiya), which publishes laws and amendments, is available on the website of the Iraqi Ministry of Justice. The Official Journals are chronological and numbered, but there is no search function. The site can be accessed via the following link: Below you will find an overview of the online search for legal texts on Iraq (from September 2022). The overview is intended to facilitate the search for legal texts, but does not replace the independent review of the timeliness, validity and correctness of laws. Please also note that official translations of legal texts are rarely available. AGREEMENT – Austrian Centre for Research and Documentation on Origin and Asylum: ecoi.net overview of Iraqi laws, September 2022 www.ecoi.net/en/countries/iraq/law-guide/ armed state-affiliated actors have targeted, threatened, abducted and extrajudicially executed dissidents and activists and their families, prompting survivors to flee underground. Iraqi authorities arrested and prosecuted people for some of the attacks, but dozens remained missing. The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) cracked down on dissent, convicting activists and journalists under national security and cybercrime laws for actions related to freedom of expression. KRG security and intelligence forces violently dispersed and arrested protesters. Measures to contain Covid-19 combined with droughts have affected the economic well-being of Iraqis. Armed actors continued to impede the access to human rights of internally displaced persons, and the Iraqi authorities closed all but two camps and subjected thousands of people to secondary displacement and collective punishment. Gender-based violence has increased dramatically during the pandemic, and central and regional authorities have failed to ensure the protection of women and girls in the home.
The Islamic State group continued to attack and kill civilians and members of the Iraqi security forces in northern and central Iraq. Iraqi courts continued to impose death sentences for a number of crimes and carry out executions. For the purposes of this article, we provide the following definition of the rule of law, which includes: All persons and authorities; Both public and private; Be bound and entitled; The practical benefits of law enforcement; Made public, effective now and in the future; and administered by an independent and competent judiciary. Iraq`s Supreme Judicial Council maintains Qa`ida tashri`at al-iraqiya, a legal database that claims to have access to all laws and decrees adopted in Iraq since 1918. The database can be accessed via the following link: To access the collection of national laws for Iraq via ecoi.net, please follow this link. The Arab Spring and the Iraq crisis following the Daesh outbreak show that political stability and economic prosperity can only be effectively achieved through a depoliticised rule of law, and that this rule of law is gradually becoming a common building block of Iraqi culture and traditional politics and governance. Dorar al-Iraq also provides a version of the citizenship law in Arabic on its website: The constitution promises several civil liberties, including freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of assembly, freedom of expression, freedom of the press, and the right to privacy. All these individual freedoms contain two main exceptions: the Iraqi Council of Representatives has the power to define what these freedoms mean, and no freedom can conflict with Islamic morality. [3] In Erbil, capital of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KR-I), missile attacks on the airport where US personnel are stationed and on the US embassy in Baghdad`s Green Zone have been attributed to PMU factions. Refworld provides an Arabic version of the Civil Status Law of 1959 with amendments up to 1999: the contents of the Brookings Doha Center are now archived. In September 2021, after 14 years of impactful partnership, Brookings and the Brookings Doha Center announced they would end their affiliation.
The Brookings Doha Center is now the Middle East Council on Global Affairs, a separate public policy institution based in Qatar. Dorar al-Iraq provides an Arabic version of the 1971 Code of Criminal Procedure, with amendments until 2004: between January and May, Iraqi security forces in Nasriya, Babylon, and Najaf used excessive force, including tear gas and live ammunition, to disperse protesters demanding the release of activists and justice for others killed and injured in the protests. In July, authorities announced the arrest of an alleged perpetrator, but no further information was provided. In October and November, citing the 2005 Anti-Terrorism Law, courts sentenced to death those convicted of targeting and killing activists and journalists in Baghdad and Basra in 2019 and 2020, respectively.
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