Parliament set to ratify justice and accountability law

Baghdad: The Iraqi Parliament in Baghdad intends to ratify the accountability and justice law endorsed by the Iraqi government as a substitute for the Baath uprooting law by the end of this week.

Hamid Mualla, a prominent figure in the Shiite coalition, said to Gulf News, "The parliament will ratify the new law by an overwhelming majority and most of the political blocs support the amended version of the law which will contribute to bolstering the national reconciliation process in the country."

He added, "The Shiite coalition supports the amendments approved by the Ministers Council especially calculating salaries and pension rights for Baathists who were dismissed from their jobs retroactively and give power to the provinces' councils to restore thousands of Baathists to their jobs at state ministries and institutions."

Implementation

All Iraqi political forces welcomed the new law except the Shiite leader Moqtada Al Sadr, who refused to enact this law in the Iraqi Parliament. Ahmad Al Hussaini, a prominent figure in the Sadr trend said "Allowing Baathists to return to their jobs will enable them to return to their regular partisan activities ... that is why we are warned about allowing the Baath Party's return under any pretext."

According to the accountability and justice law, Baathists can assume senior state positions except sensitive and security intelligence positions.

Mahmoud Othman, a prominent figure in the Kurdish coalition, said to Gulf News: "The law will reduce the number of uprooted Baathists from 40,000 to 3,000 and that would strengthen the national reconciliation process."

He added: "The law is promising but it came late, I fear that the impact of the new law will be slow or weak because the Baath uprooting committee politicised the process and eventually a lot of injustice had occurred because of the previous law."

According to the new law, the Baath uprooting committee, headed by Ahmad Al Chalabi, will be dissolved and a judicial body will implement the law away from political interference.