THOM SIELOFF
Today.. Parliament votes on 5 laws
Today, the House of Representatives is holding its regular session No. (20), which was postponed from last Thursday, according to the schedule of the media department, which included voting on a number of important laws, including “the intelligence and passport laws and amending the budget.” The Council was scheduled to hold its session last Thursday, before it was postponed until today. The session agenda at the time included: First: Voting on the draft law of the National Intelligence Service by the Security and Defense Committee, which includes 36 articles. Second: Voting on the proposed law amending the first draft of Passport Law No. 32 of 2015 by the Security and Defense Committee, which consists of 5 articles. Third: Report and discussion of the second reading of the draft law amending the first amendment to the Federal General Budget Law of the Republic of Iraq for the fiscal years (2023, 2024, 2025) No. 13 of 2023 by the Finance Committee. Fourth: Report and discussion of the second reading of the draft law amending the fifth amendment to Civil Aviation Law No. 148 of 1974 by the Transport and Communications Committee. Voting was also added on the draft Personal Status Law No. 188 of 1959, Articles (2, 10), as well as voting on the draft law to return properties to their owners covered by some decisions of the Revolutionary Command Council (dissolved), consisting of 5 articles, and voting on the second amendment law to the General Amnesty Law. In the same context, the general amnesty law is still a subject of controversy within the halls of the House of Representatives, as the disagreement over some of its paragraphs has caused the vote on it to be postponed again. Member of the Security and Defense Committee, Ali Al-Bandawi, told Al-Sabah that the controversy over deleting or amending some paragraphs was a major reason for not moving forward with its approval, indicating that it was postponed several times because it is one of the controversial laws that cause divisions among the political forces. He pointed out that there is political consensus to pass the law on the condition that it does not include criminals who shed the blood of innocents, or those involved in stealing public money, but is limited to releasing innocent people who are serving unjustified sentences, noting that in essence, everyone agrees on the importance of releasing innocent people from prisons, but disagreements over certain details in the law prevent reaching a final formula. alsabaah.iq/106864-.html