State of Law coalition led by Iraqi Prime Minister, Nuri al-Maliki announced on Tuesday that its MPs will end their boycott of the parliament's meetings
after receiving promises to include criminalizing the outlawed Baath party law on the Parliaments' agenda.
Maliki's coalition MPs boycotted several sessions of the Parliament before the end of the previous legislative term in protest against the non-inclusion of criminalizing Baath law on the agenda, as the coalition - which has 89 seats -accused the Parliaments' Speaker, Osama al-Nujaifi of delaying the approval of the law.
Careful calmness prevails among the political blocs currently after sharp divisions accompanied by violent security tensions, after a reconciliation meeting between Maliki and Nujaifi on one hand as well as Kurds and Baghdad reaching a tentative agreement on the other hand.
"The decision to return was made after several meetings with presidency of the parliament, as we reached an agreement to form a committee headed by First Deputy Chairman of the Council, Qusay al-Suhail to discuss criminalizing Baath law within other laws as amendments of accountability and justice law and properties of the former regimes' employees," A leader of State of law coalition, Haider al-Abadi said in a news conference in Baghdad attended by "Shafaq News".
The draft law criminalizes everyone who joined Baath Party, which led Iraq during the regime of Saddam Hussein as it was banned after toppling it in 2003.
"As for amendments on accountability and justice laws and properties of the employees of the former regime , they were not submitted for readings or discussion," he added.
The law might increase resentment among anti-government policies' protesters who are still demonstrating for months to demand legal amendments that would establish justice among the various components
It is worth mentioning that names of senior officials of Baath Party are associated with crimes committed against opponents of his rule, particularly Kurds and Shiite Muslims, where tens of thousands of them were killed, buried in mass graves and detained without trial.
© Shafaq News 2013
