Iraq factions release National Honor Code

In a massive rally attended by the representatives of different political factions and religious groups, the new Iraq National Honor Code was launched to determine the main rules according to which the country is to be run following the withdrawal of American troops.

Prominent Shiite cleric and head of the Sadrist Movement Moqatada al-Sadr had called earlier upon all factions to take part in writing a set of laws that aim to preserve the unity of Iraq against any threats the country might face owing to the security vacuum expected to prevail after Iraqi authorities become fully in charge of protecting the country.

The new honor code comprised 14 articles, reported an Al Arabiya correspondent.

The most prominent articles in the National Honor Code stipulate the prohibition of killing any citizen of Iraq regardless of his/her religion, sect, or ethnicity and of attacking places of worship as well as penalizing any person or group involved in inciting sectarian strife.

The document also stipulates the formation of a national, popular, and religious committee that monitors the application of the articles it includes.

Hundreds of politicians, intellectuals, and clerics from different sects signed the National Honor Code which is to be shortly put to a popular referendum.

The drafting and signing of the honor code came at a time when the Iraqi political scene is rife with conflicts, especially with the terrorism charges Vice-President Tareq al-Hashemi is currently facing.

“Iraq now needs a charter that protects the lives of Iraqis and render their killing a grave sin,” said Ahmed al-Masari, an MP for al-Iraqiya coalition.

“Iraq is currently going through crippling crises,” he added.

According the observes, the new document did manage to focus on the unity of Iraq and the criminalization of sectarian violence, yet it failed to address the political impasse Iraq is currently going through and did not offer practical solutions to any of them.


(Translated from Arabic by Sonia Farid)