The Presidency Council issued the law of Supreme National Commission for Accountability and Justice, based on what the House of Representatives had passed in accordance with the provisions of clause (first), article (61) of the constitution, the law reads as follows:
In the name of the people
The Presidency Council
Based on what the House of Representatives had passed in accordance with the provisions of clause (first), article (61) of the constitution, and as the legal period set forth in clause (fifth/a), article (138) of the constitution has elapsed,
The following law is issued:
No. (10), for the year 2008
Law of the Supreme National Commission for Accountability and Justice
Article (1):
Expressions contained in this law shall have the meanings showing opposite to them:-
First: Commission: (the Supreme National Commission for Accountability and Justice)
Second: Attorney general of the Commission:
He, who monitors crime investigation, collects evidences and takes all that would lead to the detection of crime marks.
Third: Board of cassation
The board at the court of cassation entrusted with the enforcement of the law of Supreme National Commission for Accountability and Justice.
Fourth: Eradication
Actions taken by the Commission according to the provisions of this law with the aim to dismantle the system of Ba'ath party in Iraqi society, state institutions and civil society institutions intellectually, administratively, politically, culturally and economically.
Fifth: Ba'ath party
It is the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party which seized the power in Iraq on 17/7/1968, and prohibited under article (7) of the Iraqi constitution.
Sixth: Member
Every person who belonged to the Ba'ath party and took an oath of allegiance to it
Seventh: Former regime
The ruling regime in Iraq for the period from 17 July, 1968 to 9April, 2003
Eighth: Security apparatuses (repressive)
Apparatuses of public security and intelligence, private security and special protections, national security and military security, military intelligence and Saddam Fedayeen under the shade of former regime
Ninth: Agents of the regime
The persons who belonged to Ba'ath party, or affiliated to repressive apparatuses, their collaborators, or beneficiaries gained from looting the country wealth, who the former regime utilized to kill, oppress and persecute the people in any form.
Tenth: Ministries and security apparatuses
(Ministry of Defense, Ministry of Interior, Ministry of State for National Security Affairs, Intelligence Apparatus, National Security Advisor and all other security apparatuses)
Chapter II
Establishment and objectives
Article (2)
First: under this law the naming of the Supreme National Commission for Accountability and Justice, being and administratively and financially independent body, shall replace the naming of the Supreme National Body for De-Baathefication, and shall enjoy all its constitutional powers and same body corporate and is attached to the House of Representatives and thereby shall continue its works in coordination with the judiciary authority and executive apparatuses.
Second: The Commission is considered a detection entity for the procedures mentioned in chapter (7) of this law.
Third: Chairman of the Commission is responsible for the implementation of its policies and tasks, and for the supervision and follow-up of its functions, and thus he has the right to issue the decisions, instructions and directives needed to give effect to the Commission work and achieve its goals, and he shall exercise all powers conferred upon him, for being in the rank of minister, and he may authorize any part of his powers liable to delegation by law to his deputy who is also in minister rank .
Fourth: the Commission is composed of seven members in the rank of director general, with political and legal experience and equally representing the constituents of Iraqi society, they are nominated by the Council of Ministers and approved by the House of Representatives by a simple majority and finally ratified by the Presidency Council.
Fifth: The commission shall take its decisions according to this law by a majority of four votes and shall be implemented right away.
Sixth: The Commission shall elect from among its members by direct ballot a chairman and vice chairman and they are approved by the House of Representatives by an absolute majority.
Seventh: The House of Representatives may withdraw confidence from the chairman of the Commission by an absolute majority and according to procedures constitutionally practiced.
Eighth: It is required for any member of the Commission to be:
a. A fully qualified resident of Iraq
b. A holder of the first university degree
c. At least 35 years of age
d. Not convicted of a crime involving honor violation
e. Not covered by the procedures of de-Baathefication
f. Not an agent of the former regime or became well-off at the expense of public money
g. Enjoying well reputation, integrity and honesty
Ninth: A cassation board shall be formed at the court of cassation, named the board of cassation for accountability and justice, from seven judges not covered by the procedures of de-Baathefication, nominated by the Supreme Judicial Council and endorsed by the House of Representatives, chaired by a senior judge and shall take its decisions by a majority of four votes.
Tenth: The board of cassation shall look into all appeals presented from all those covered by the actions stipulated in this law.
Eleventh: The board's center shall be in Baghdad and the board may open branch offices in Iraq.
Article 3
The Board aims at the following:
First: prevent the coming back of the Ba'ath party, whether in ideology, administration, policy and practice under any designation, to power or public life in Iraq.
Second: purge the institutions of public sector, mixed sector, civil society, and Iraqi society from the system of Ba'ath party under any form.
Third: refer the members of the dissolved Ba'ath party and repressive apparatuses who were found guilty of criminal acts against Iraqi people to competent courts to be justly punished.
Fourth: enable the victims of Ba'ath party and repressive apparatuses, and thru turning to competent entities, to claim for compensation against damages they endured as a result of those crimes.
Fifth: participate in revealing the money seized illicitly by the members of the former regime inside and outside of Iraq and return them to the public treasury.
Sixth: service the Iraqi memory thru documenting the crimes and unlawful practices committed by the members of the Ba'ath party and its repressive apparatuses, and provide an accessible database on the said members, in an effort to fortify the coming generations not to fall into the clutches of oppression, tyranny and persecution.
Chapter III
Functions of the Board
Article 4
The Board shall adopt the following tasks and means to achieve its goals:
First: enforce the provisions of this law in conformity with the relevant constitutional provisions
Second: provide the evidences and documents available to the Board on the crimes perpetrated by members of the Ba'ath party and repressive apparatuses against the citizens, to Iraqi judiciary by the public prosecutor office.
Third: receive all complaints from those affected by the practices and crimes perpetrated by members of the Ba'ath party and repressive apparatuses, and collect proofs, documents and papers for the said crimes to be followed through.
Fourth: present the necessary studies and recommendations thru coordination with the relevant authorities in order to amend or repeal legislation issued by the former regime and would have benefited its members in particular excepting the rest groups of the people.
Fifth: service the historical memory by documenting the scandals and sufferance under the former regime in order to protect future generations from falling again into the clutches of tyranny and persecution, and to instil the spirit of coexistence, reconciliation, civil peace, justice, equality and citizenship between the Iraqis, and shall work, in particular, on achieving the following:
Finish identifying those individuals covered by procedures of eradication within the Board term and publish a list of eradication procedures as prescribed in this law so that a table in the names of all individuals who have undergone these procedures is set indicating the grade of each individual and date of issuing relevant order of Ba'ath eradication, this table shall be kept in the archive of the dissolved Ba'ath party.
All files of the dissolved Ba'ath party shall devolve to the government charge for:
a. keeping them till an Iraqi permanent archive has been established according to law
b. Share in the development of social educational programs that emphasize on political plurality, tolerance, equality and human rights. And shall denunciate at the same time the crimes committed by the former regime, one-party culture, marginalization and exclusion.
Article 5
The Board shall seek to enforce its decisions and directives thru the design of a specific mechanism including identity verification, written discharge and a pledge not to return to factional activity under any designation in line with this law provisions.
Chapter IV
Procedures
Article 6
The Board shall exercise the following procedures against those who belonged to the ranks of Ba'ath party and repressive apparatuses before 09/04/2003 for the purpose of achieving the Board objectives and carrying out its functions:
First: terminate the services of all employees who had been in the rank of a division member and pension them off under the law of service and retirement.
Second: pension all employees holding any of the special grades (director general or equivalent and above) and who where a company member in the ranks of Ba'ath party, according to the law of service and retirement.
Third: terminate the services of all members of the security apparatuses (repressive) and pension them off according to the law of service of retirement.
Fourth: deny any pension rights to Saddam Fedayeen for their work in the said apparatus
Fifth: allow all employees with no special grade who were a company member or below in the ranks of Ba'ath party, to return to their departments or remain thereat.
Sixth: company members shall not be permitted to return to service or remain therein at the three Presidential Bodies, Judiciary Council, Ministries, Security Apparatuses, Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Finance.
Seventh: retiring pension shall not be paid or given to anyone who affiliated to Ba'ath party after (20/3/2003) and got political or humanitarian asylum in any country.
Eighth: deny special grade jobs (director general or equivalent and above and directors of administrative units) to who were a member and above in the ranks of Ba'ath party and became rich at the expense of public money.
Ninth: turn all those who are not covered by the law of service and retirement to work in the state departments with the exception of the three presidential bodies, Judiciary Council, Ministries, Security apparatuses, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Finance save clause (first) of the article above.
Tenth: all rights mentioned in the clauses above shall drop from any person who was judicially proved to have been involved in crimes against the Iraqi people or became wealthy at the expense of public money.
Article 7
First: all those covered by the right of pensioning under the provisions of article (6) hereof should submit official application for pensioning within (60) days period from the enforcement date of this law to those who are living in Iraq, and (90) days for those who are abroad, otherwise their rights to job will be lost.
Second: all those covered by the right to return to job under the provisions of article (6) hereof must submit official application for reinstatement within a period of (60) days from the effective date of law for those who live in Iraq and (90) days for those who live abroad, otherwise their rights to job will drop.
Article 8
All exceptions and rights will fall, and will be severed from the service on charges of honor breach, any ex-member of the Ba'ath party who benefited from this law, and was proved later by court ruling that the information provided was false or he affiliated or returned to formations of banned political parties or gave support to or promoted them and thus shall be hunted judicially to repay what he took hold of rights and funds.
Article 9
All job and military grades, medals, and titles enjoyed by the members of companies, divisions, branches and offices, national and territorial, for their affiliation to Ba'ath party shall be cancelled along with all privileges consequential on them.
Article 10
All those who committed crimes against the Iraqi people or became rich at the expense of public money from those who belonged to the Ba'ath party (and for all factional grades), or repressive apparatuses and armed forces, shall be referred to courts as appropriate to be tried for crimes committed against the Iraqi people.
Article 11
Dissolved Ba'ath party shall be tried as a party and a regime for having committed crimes against the Iraqi people.
Article 12
The Council of Ministers may re-consider the exceptional cases of return to jobs for those who are covered by this law and according to public interest requirements upon a request from the competent Minister and in coordination with the Board, take the right decision in this respect but this decision will be effective except after its ratification by the House of Representatives.
Article 13
First: the three Presidential Bodies, Council of Judiciary, Ministries, and the Departments that are not related to a Ministry, Independent Bodies and Civil Society Organizations all together shall hereby comply with the enforcement of decisions and directives of the legislating Panel.
Second: the responsible person or employee in charge who declines to implement the decisions or directives of the Board shall be liable to penal accountability under the penal code.
Article 14
The attorney general shall undertake the process of receiving complaints regarding the crimes attributed to members of the Ba'ath party, repressive apparatuses and agents of the former regime, and shall file lawsuits against them before the competent courts when probative evidences are at hand.
Chapter V
Objections
Article 15
Individuals covered by the provisions of article (6) hereof and the departments they belonged to, the Council of Governorate, and the Government of Territory in which those agencies are located, and the office of attorney general in the Board, may challenge the decisions released before the board of cassation within a period of (30) days as from the date the covered is served by the decision or deemed as being notified according to rules of service in the code of civil procedure.
Article 16
Employees who are covered, by the Board decisions, in the procedures of article (6) hereof, shall be regarded on ordinary vacation with full pay during the period in which they can make objection and until respective settlement has been made by the Board of cassation according to article (17) hereof.
Article 17
The Board of cassation shall release its decision in the challenges submitted within a period not exceeding (60) days, and thereby its decisions will be peremptory and final.
Chapter VI
Organizational structure of the Board
Article 18
First: the following departments are linked to the chairman of the Board:
1. Chairman of the Board office: administered by an employee designated as director who shall organize the chairman correspondences, appointments, interviews, and any other tasks assigned to him by the chairman.
2. Vice chairman: he possesses a special grade, the rank of deputy minister.
Second: departments of the Board: each is headed by a director general, and they comprise:
a. office of attorney general: it consists of (3) prosecutors who are assigned for work by the Supreme Judicial Council, from those who are known for their integrity, efficiency and good reputation, and from those who are not covered by the procedures mentioned in this law. The office is concerned with receiving complaints in connection with crimes attributed to members of the Ba'ath party and repressive apparatuses, collection of probative evidences thereto, bring lawsuits before the competent courts for such crimes.
b. Legal department: headed by a director general basically a university graduate in law at least with experience not less that (10) years. The department shall receive information about those who are covered by the procedures of eradication and crimes committed by them, investigate them and make recommendations thereon, consider the requests for job reinstitution, exemptions, and referral to retirement, plead for the Board before the competent courts, serve the Board decisions, study legislation enacted by the former regime and thru which members of the regime and its agents in particular had benefited, present the necessary suggestions and recommendations thereon to ensure justice and equality, and shall follow up the decisions relating to eradication and their implementation.
c. Department of informatics: headed by a director general basically a university graduate with experience not less than (10) years. The department shall collect and keep the information available on members of the Ba'ath party and repressive apparatuses, in addition to information available about crimes perpetrated by them against the Iraqi people, money they illicitly acquired, and shall provide the concerned entities with this kind information in order to take the necessary action against them.
d. Department of administrative and financial affairs: headed by a director general basically a university graduate with not less than (10) years of experience. The department shall provide administrative services to employees, and be responsible for financial issues, prepare the annual budget and financial report of the Board.
e. Department of financial and economic pursuits: headed by a director general basically a university graduate with not less that (10) years of experience. The department shall conduct statistics and evaluation of the financial and economic entities seized by the former regime agents, follow up on these properties and entities inside and outside of Iraq, and present recommendations to relevant entities to recover them.
f. Department of information: headed by a director general basically a university graduate with not less than (10) of experience. The department covers the Board activities, highlights the importance of those activities, promulgate them thru the media, contribute to the development of social and cultural programs that emphasize political pluralism, tolerance and equality, and condemn the crimes and scandals committed by the former regime, the one-party culture, marginalization policy and exclusion.
g. Department of the inspector general: headed by a director basically a university graduate with not less than (10) years of expertise. The department watches over the works of the Board.
Chapter VII
Final general provisions
Article 19
The Board shall submit a quarterly report on all her works and actions taken to the House of Representatives
Article 20
All actions taken by the Board before the entry of this law into force shall be deemed effective as long as they were compatible with the provisions of effective laws at the time, unless they were inconsistent with the provisions of this law.
Article 21
The provisions of Civil Service law no. (24), for the year 1960 (as amended), and the provisions of state employees discipline law no. (14), for the year 1991 shall apply to the staff of the Board.
Article 22
Employees of the Board shall receive risk allowances equivalent to (50%) of the salaries they are paid.
Article 23
The Board shall publish thru the media the names of those covered by the procedures subject of article (6) hereof, their factional ranks, job positions, and the date those procedures were issued.
Article 23
The Board shall prepare an archive for all those covered by the procedures of article (6) hereof, their factional ranks, job positions and date those procedures were issued, however, the said archive will be referred to the Council of Ministers to be circulated to all ministries, departments non-affiliated to a ministry, independent bodies and civil society organizations.
Article 25
The House of Representatives may dissolve the Board after her missions are over by an absolute majority of its members according to constitution, and thus the assignment of judges and prosecutors will be ended and they go back to work at the Supreme Judiciary Council unless they are at the age of retirement before the dissolution, while the employees of the Board will be transferred in their grades and job titles to the cadre of the three Presidency Bodies, Ministries, Security Apparatuses, Ministry of Justice, and Ministry of Finance, and they will continue to enjoy the same financial allowances they received from the Board for yet another year after their transfer.
Article 26
Chairman of the Board and his deputy, and directors general working there shall be turned over to other ministries and bodies as needed or to retirement and according to their respective service in the state departments.
Article 27
Chairman of the Board shall issue the rules of procedure to organize the work within (30) days as from the date of his commissioned duties.
Article 28
Nomenclature of the Higher National Commission for Accountability and Justice shall replace the designation of "the Higher National Board for De-Baathefication".
Article 29
No other law contrary to the provisions of this law shall be applicable
Article 30
This law shall be enforceable as from its publication in the official gazette
Explanatory statement
• Given the severity of suffering by the Iraqis over (35) years during which they were exposed to worst forms of persecution, oppression and deprivation at the hands of the most arbitrary and criminal totalitarian regimes;
• And for the extensive role played by the leaders and members of that regime of Baathists and operatives in the repressive apparatus in persecuting and oppressing the Iraqi people and their attempt to weaken the sense of citizenship and belonging to homeland;
• And subject to tangible feelings of deep concern among the Iraqis towards the danger of continued participation on the part of the dissolved Ba'ath party and its members in the hinges of public life;
• And recognizing the urgent need to refer members of the dissolved party, who were proved to have committed crimes against Iraq and his people, to the competent courts to be justly punished;
• And in order to enable those affected from the Ba'ath party and repressive apparatuses to turn to the competent courts and claim for damages they suffered due to illegal practices of the party and the said apparatuses;
• And taking into account the existence of make-believe belonging states among certain groups of the people to the ranks of the dissolved party though they have no faith in the ideas of Ba'ath dictatorship and its repressive practices;
• And to continue the proceedings that have been taken by the Higher National Independent Board for De-Baathefication, in purging the Iraqi society and the state institutions from the dissolved Ba'ath party system;
• And out of desire to document precise data on the categories covered by the eradication proceedings in order to secure a database forming a historical reference to the crimes and atrocities of the disbanded party and Saddam's regime, and how much the people of Iraq endured as a result of the said regime practices.
