THE IRAQI CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM, AN INTRODUCTION

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to serve as a brief introduction to the criminal justice system, such as it is, in Iraq today. It is based on my review of the Iraqi Criminal Procedure Code, 1 my discussions with a small number of individuals— both Iraqi and American—familiar with the system, and my own (admittedly-limited) observations of the system during a six-month military deployment to Baghdad. 2 [hereinafter Criminal Procedure Code]. The Criminal Procedure Code contains procedural guidelines for all criminal investigations and trials of felonies and misdemeanors in Iraq. It appears that an official translation was never published in the English edition of Al-Waqai Al-Iraqiya (The Iraqi Gazette), the Government of Iraq's official weekly register of national-level policy pronouncements (laws, regulations, and Republican Council Ordinances). However, there are two basic translations of the Code, both undated, both anonymous. The best sources on the internet for the translations, and a variety of other reference materials, are the Global Justice Project: Iraq (GJPI) sponsored by the S.J.saddamtrial/index.asp?t=1 (last visited Oct. 7, 2010). The original translations, including the one posted on the Case Western site, were made between September 1984 (the date of the most recent amendment annotated therein—see Criminal Procedure Code, art. 160) and October 1988 (the date of the next most recent amendment thereafter—to Article 47, which is not captured in the translation). The version on the GJPI site (currently dated Mar. 14, 2010) is an update of the same translation incorporating subsequent amendments. It has addressed many typographical errors and omissions (e.g., it now includes Article 77 which was previously missing), but it still uses the British spelling of most words. 2. I was deployed in mid-2007 with the initial contingent of the Law and Order Task Force (LAOTF), an experimental unit envisioned by General David Petraeus, then-commander of Multi-National Forces-Iraq, and his Staff Judge Advocate (lead attorney), Colonel Mark Martins. One of our missions was to help with the construction and initial case-processing of the newly-formed Rusafa Branch of the Central Criminal Court of Iraq (CCCI). Although I was able to learn much about Iraqi black-letter criminal law during my deployment, my exposure to the practical aspects of the system is admittedly limited.