As well as common criminals, it is clear the law would cover at least some of those convicted of murder and other serious crimes during the wave of militant attacks and sectarian warfare that followed the United States-led invasion of 2003.
The violence was at its worse in 2006-07 with a complex set of conflicts involving Sunni and Shia militias and al-Qaeda linked militants, often resulting in the random slaughter of civilians just because they lived in an area dominated by the “wrong” group. Thousands of Iraqis were killed, and hundreds of thousands more displaced.
From late 2007 onwards, the scale of violence subsided as the Iraqi authorities launched a series of military operations targeting both Sunni and Shia armed groups across the country. Thousands of paramilitaries were arrested in the process, and it is this group of detainees who could benefit most from the amnesty under discussion.
Critics of the law say much of its wording is vague and ambiguous. Article 4 of the document defines offences whose perpetrators will not be eligible for release, including “terrorist crimes committed by individuals, groups or organisations that are banned locally or internationally”, and crimes that “threaten national unity and present a danger to public security and stability”. Amendments made to the law subsequently rule out people responsible for bomb blasts and certain kinds of kidnappings, and cases where the firearms used were fitted with silencers.
Shia lawmaker Abbas al-Bayati says this still leaves a lot of loopholes, so that many violent criminals could be freed.
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