How the law will be used on the ground is another question. Parliament member Muhsin al-Saadoun told Al-Monitor, “The law is important because it will provide legislation to guide the judiciary in the trials of Baathists.”
He added, “The de-Baathification law is linked to Article 7 of the constitution, which includes jail sentences for Baathists who violate the law.” He stressed, “Had the law been voted on earlier, hundreds of Baathists would have remained behind bars.”
For his part, Jawad al-Shamri, the head of the media office at the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, told Al-Monitor, “This law has little value after 13 years of tug-of-war, as it targets ideas and not the people who have infiltrated the allegedly democratic state.”
He added, “The law is about the de-Baathification in the media and in the public sphere, but Baathists will effectively remain in power.”
After so many sectarian wars and political conflicts, Iraqis do not need to throw Baathists in prison or dismiss them from their jobs as much as they need a true political and social reconciliation to lay the foundations for understanding and dialogue instead of hatred and revenge.
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