COR votes on General Amnesty Law amendment, finishes reading Information Technology Crimes Law

In its 15th ordinary plenary session held on Monday August 21, 2017 the COR voted on the first amendment of the General Amnesty Law and finished reading the legislative proposal for Information Technology Crimes Law, and adjourned the interpellation of Mr. Hassan Al – Rashid, Minister of Communications.
The session was chaired by H.E. the Speaker Dr. Saleem al-Jubouri and attended by 170 MPs.
At the outset of the session, al-Jubouri thanked, in the name of the COR, the Committees of Health, Legal Affairs, Tourism & Antiquities, Labor & Social Affairs, Culture & Media, Finance, Deportees and displaced persons for studious attendance at meetings of the Committees.
The Council voted to reject the presentation of the report of the Committee of Experts to Select the Appropriate Members of the High Commission for Human Rights and its work during the last period.
For his part, MP Mohammed Halbusi apologized to the Presidency of the Council and to the MPs for misbehaving during the session.
The Council voted on the legislative proposal for the first amendment to the General Amnesty Law No. 27 of 2016 submitted by the legal committee.
Concerning the completion of the vote on the legislative proposal for the Provincial and District Councils Elections submitted by the Committees of Legal Affairs and Regions and Governorates are not organized into a Region, al- Jubouri announced that the Representatives of the components of Kirkuk province reached approximate agreement on articles (37) and (52) of the legislative proposal and other paragraphs that need to be rephrased. However, vote on the legislative proposal will be postponed to the next session at the request of the MPs of the province.
The Council voted in principle to legislate the legislative proposal for Babylon, the Cultural Capital of Iraq Law submitted by the committees of Culture & Information and Tourism and Antiquities.
The Speaker entrusted the Committee of Tribes to follow-up on the situation in the province of Basra and resolve tribal conflicts in accordance with the powers granted to the Committee with the help of members of the Council of Representatives from the province of Basra.
With regard to the investigation of bribery allegations made by MP Huda Sajjad against MPs who withdraw their signatures, Mp Talal al-Zawba’ee the Chairman of the Integrity Committee stressed that the Joint Committee made up of the Integrity and Legal Commissions formed to follow up on Ms. Sajjad’s allegations held a meeting hosted by MP Hoda Sajjad and MP Alia, noting that the Committee requested to extend its work to audit the names of the MPs whose signatures have been withdrawn. Al-Jubouri instructed to extend the work of the joint committee until tomorrow, and stressed that judicial action will be taken against those charged in the case.
On questioning the Minister of Communications Mr. Hassan Rashed, the Speaker directed to hold a meeting tomorrow to consider the recommendations made by the Committees on interrogations to be set a new date for the questioning of the Minister of Communications and a new date to be set for the questioning of the Minister of Communications.
The Council finished reading report and discussion of legislative proposal for Information Technology Crimes Law submitted by the Security & Defense, Higher Education, Scientific & Research, Legal, Culture & Media, Human Rights, and Services and Reconstruction.
The session was then adjourned to Monday 22/8/2017.
Media Directorate
The Iraqi Council of Representatives
21/8/2017