Iraqi parliament to revise Amnesty Law, excluding certain crimes

Shafaq News/ Iraq's parliament will rework a draft amnesty law to exclude certain crimes, a lawmaker said on Wednesday, amid ongoing political disputes over the legislation.

The draft law, which was aimed at granting amnesty to individuals convicted of terrorism-related offenses, has faced wide public and political opposition.

Raed al-Maliki, a member of the parliamentary legal committee, told Shafaq News agency that the current draft was "too narrow" and needed to be expanded to include other crimes.

"The draft law that reached the parliament needs a lot of amendments, as the current version does not generally include various crimes, but is only concerned with addressing membership in terrorist organizations," al-Maliki said.

The lawmaker added that the parliamentary legal committee would "redraft the amnesty law in a new way according to what is agreed upon regarding the crimes to be included and those to be excluded from the law."

The Iraqi parliament had previously approved the first reading of the draft law but has since faced delays due to political disagreements. Al-Maliki noted that the parliament was not rushing to pass the law and that it required "many amendments" before it could be finalized.

The amnesty law has been a contentious issue in the country under Prime Minister Mohammad Shia al-Sudani, with Sunni political blocs pushing for its passing as a condition for their participation in the State Administration Coalition that gave birth to the incumbent government.