Iraq
2026
- GOVERNMENT
- federal parliamentary democracy
- CONSTITUTION
- ratified on October 15, 2005 (currently under review by the Constitutional Committee and likely to be subject to a referendum in the future)
- LEGAL SYSTEM
- based on European civil law and Islamic law
- LEGISLATIVE SYSTEM
- Council of Representatives
- JUDICIAL SYSTEM
- according to the constitution, the federal judiciary includes the High Judicial Council, the Federal Supreme Court, the Federal Court of Cassation, the Public Prosecutor's Department, the Judicial Oversight Commission, and other federal courts
RELIGIONS
97% Muslims; Christian and Hindu minorities
From the country
- APRIL 21, 2006IraqDEATH PENALTY
IRAQ. MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH OVER BOMBING OF UN HEADQUARTERS
an Iraqi court tried and sentenced to death a man allegedly linked to Al Qaeda who confessed to the 2003 truck-bombing of the United Nations headquarters in Baghdad.
- APRIL 20, 2006IraqDEATH PENALTY
IRAQ. MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR KIDNAPPING
the Baghdad Central Criminal Court issued a death sentence against a man convicted of kidnapping, the state- funded Al Sabah newspaper reported.
- APRIL 13, 2006IraqDEATH PENALTY
IRAQ. REINSTATED DEATH PENALTY RAISES DEEP MORAL QUESTIONS
"In Saddam's time and in all times the death penalty is not good. There is no justice and sometimes innocent people are killed without good reason," Baghdad resident Omar Abdul Aziz told IPS.
- APRIL 7, 2006IraqDEATH PENALTY
IRAQ. SADDAM ADMITS TO EXECUTION ORDER
subjected to cross-examination for the first time, former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein admitted that he had signed an order of execution for 148 men and boys with only a cursory glance at the evidence.
- APRIL 4, 2006IraqDEATH PENALTY
IRAQ. 12 ANSAR AL-ISLAM MEMBERS SENTENCED TO DEATH
a court in Iraq's northern Kurdistan region sentenced to death 12 members of militant group Ansar al-Islam for numerous killings and explosions, an Arbil judiciary official said.
- MARCH 23, 2006IraqDEATH PENALTY
IRAQ. HALABJA PROTESTERS MAY FACE DEATH PENALTY
it was reported that demonstrators who torched a monument to the victims of a gas attack on Halabja faced the death penalty if convicted, according to a judge investigating the incident.
- MARCH 13, 2006IraqDEATH PENALTY
IRAQ. EX-SADDAM JUDGE: DEATH SENTENCES LEGAL
Awad al-Bandar a former judge from Saddam Hussein's regime, admitted to sentencing 148 Shiites to death in the 1980s, but maintained they received a fair trial and had confessed to trying to assassinate the former Iraqi leader.
- MARCH 9, 2006IraqDEATH PENALTY
IRAQ. 13 INSURGENTS HANGED
Iraqi authorities hanged 13 insurgents, marking the first time militants had been executed in the country since Saddam Hussein was ousted, the government said.
- MARCH 1, 2006IraqDEATH PENALTY
IRAQ. SADDAM ADMITS ORDERING EXECUTIONS
Saddam Hussein admitted in court that he gave orders that led to the execution of Shi'ite Muslims in the 1980s, but justified the punishment as his right as Iraq's president.
- FEBRUARY 16, 2006IraqDEATH PENALTY
IRAQ. DEATH SQUAD PROBE
Iraq’s Interior Ministry launched an investigation into claims that a police death squad had been operating in the country.
- FEBRUARY 1, 2006IraqDEATH PENALTY
IRAQ. SADDAM'S DEFENCE SAYS NO COURT UNTIL JUDGE RESIGNS
the chief lawyer in the defence team representing former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein said that the defence would not appear in court until newly selected chief judge Raouf Abdel Rahman resigned.
- JANUARY 3, 2006IraqDEATH PENALTY
IRAQ. SADDAM HUSSEIN PREFERS DEATH BY FIRING SQAD, REPORT
former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein told two of his lawyers that if he was sentenced to death for war crimes, he would rather die by firing squad than by hanging, The Washington Times said.