Allawi signed defense and national security law

The field developments in Iraq coincided with the signature of the defending national security law by the prime minister of the Iraqi Interim government Eyad Allawi. The said law gives the government several authorizations including announcing emergency in certain areas of Iraq.

While the Iraqis received the new law with welcome and others with caution, the Iraqi minister of justice Malik Douhan al-Hassan said that the turbulent security conditions in Iraq was the reason behind issuing the law, noting it contains enough guarantees to ensure the rights of citizens.

The law offers Allawi special authorization ranging between imposing curfew to issuing warrant of arrests, desolving federations and societies and imposing restrictions on the moves of citizens and listening and spying on telephones. The law also avails detaining suspected persons and breaking into their houses and work places.

Amid the deteriorated security conditions, Allawi said in a statement to the Spanish al-Paes daily that his government decided to reactivate death penalty for an interim time. He explained that death penalty will be confined to special cases " limited and tangible causes " like assassinations.

Both the UN and the European Union announced their objection of reactivating the death penalty law in Iraq after the detention of the former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.