Iraq's top court throws out challenge to new laws, including one increasing Islamic courts authority
BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraq’s top court on Tuesday threw out a legal challenge that had temporarily halted three controversial laws passed last month by the country’s parliament.
The measures — each supported by different blocs — include an amendment to the country’s personal status law to give Islamic courts increased authority over family matters, including marriage, divorce and inheritance, which critics have said would erode women’s rights.
They also include a general amnesty law that opponents say allows the release of people involved in public corruption and embezzlement as well as militants who committed war crimes. The third bill aimed to return lands confiscated from the Kurds under the rule of Saddam Hussein, which some fear could lead to the displacement of Arab residents.
Iraq’s Federal Supreme Court decided on Tuesday to revoke its previous judicial injunction that had suspended the implementation of the three laws after a lawsuit was filed by a number of lawmakers attempting to halt them. The ruling also noted that all laws must comply with the country’s constitution.
The lawmakers in suit had claimed that the voting process was illegal because all three bills were voted on last month together rather than each one being voted on separately. The Federal Supreme Court issued an order last month to suspend their implementation until the case was adjudicated.
Parliament Speaker Mahmoud al-Mashhadani in a statement praised the passage of the amnesty law in particular.
“As we promised the mothers of the innocent, after we received the cries of those in prisons, we worked within Parliament to obtain political consensus to pass the general amnesty law,” he said.
“And thank God we succeeded where others failed, and achieved the desired goal by voting on it and then implementing it.”
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