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Iraqi Government Unveils Its "Patriot Act" Law
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Allawi was the driving force behind new emergency security measures
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BAGHDAD,
July 7 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - Iraqi Prime Minister
Iyad Allawi on Wednesday, July 7, has signed into law sweeping new
emergency security measures, including powers to impose curfews,
detain suspects and ban demonstrations.
Iraqi
Human Rights Minister Bakhtiar Amin said the law is similar to the
Patriot Act, imposed by the United States after the September 11
attacks on Washington and New York, as Iraq faces a growing waves of
attacks mainly targeting police stations.
Observers
wondered over making a similarity between the new measures by the
Iraqi government and a US act, along with other similar steps
including putting American-like titles on Iraqi officials.
They
said this could raise question marks on the sovereignty of the
government, most of its members were picked by the US-appointed Iraqi
Governing Council.
Before
his departure in June 2004, former US administrator of Iraq Paul
Bremer had
issued dozens of decrees that significantly restrict the
powers of the interim government.
Many
Iraqis constituted the edicts as a bid to impose Western legal,
economic and social concepts on a tradition-bound nation like Iraq.
Allawi,
who has links with the CIA, was the driving force behind new emergency
security measures.
'Emergency
Law'
According
to a copy of the text given to Agence France-Presse (AFP), the law
grants Allawi the right to declare emergency law in "any area of
Iraq where people face a threat to their lives because of some
people's permanent violent campaign to prevent the creation of a
government that represents all Iraqis."
The
state of emergency cannot extend past 60 days and must be dissolved as
soon as the danger has ended, but it can be renewed every 30 days,
with a letter of approval by the prime minister and the president and
deputy presidents.
The
law also grants the prime minister the right to issue arrest warrants
and impose restriction on the movement of foreigners.
It
also gives the government the right to open mail and tap telephones.
The government can also ban political groups, cancel meetings and bar
street protests.
Curfews
could be imposed for limited periods of time in limited areas, but
would require an endorsement from the cabinet and the president and
his deputies.
Necessary
Iraqi
officials said the law is necessary for ending daily attacks mainly on
state-run buildings and police stations.
"The
lives of the Iraqi people are endangered by evil forces, by terrorists
and gangs," Justice Minister Malik Dohan Al-Hassan, standing
alongside Human Rights Minister Bakhtiar Amin and an advisor from the
defense ministry, told reporters.
The
government is also expected to announce an amnesty policy for those
fighters not directly involved in pulling the triggers in attacks.
On
Saturday, July 3, Allawi's spokesman, Georges Sada, suggested that
fighters who fought the American forces before the sovereignty
transfer could be eligible for amnesty because their actions were
legitimate acts of resistance.
The
push for tough security laws gained momentum in June as fighters
escalated their attacks after Iraq's caretaker government was named at
the beginning of the month.
While
the US-led multinational forces were already able to employ hard
measures - such as lengthy detentions and raiding homes without
warrants - the new law will give the government a legal shield as it
deploys police and national guard to face the fighters.
Courts
would stay open seven days a week to ensure the interior ministry and
police could obtain arrest warrants, National Security Advisor
Muwaffaq Al-Rubaie told reporters on Monday, July 4.
Supportive
This
came as attackers fired shells Wednesday morning near Allawi's home,
wounding at least five people.
A
heavy gun battle also broke out on the streets of central Baghdad
morning as the fighters shot at Iraqi national guards and US soldiers,
supported by helicopters, minutes before the announcement of new
security laws by the Iraqi government, witnesses said.
A
US military officer said Tuesday the US army was willing to back the
government's new security law.
He
said soldiers could help enforce curfews and set up checkpoints, but
the troops would not overstep their own rules of engagement.
"We
can be supportive of the Iraqi government," he said.
If
the Iraqi government asked the US military to join in actions that
overstepped traditional US army battle rules, the officer said:
"We could request an expansion of the rules of engagement"
from higher command.
As
Myers said a force of 145,000 US troops may be needed in Iraq for as
many as five years, Shiite leader Moqtada Sadr had urged the Iraqis to
step up resistance since the US-led occupation has not ended yet.
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