Pardon covers Iraqis who received asylum abroad

An official at the Iraqi Foreign Ministry has announced that the pardon recently released by the Iraqi authorities for Iraqis who left Iraq also covers those who received the right of asylum in foreign countries.

In a statement to the Iraqi "Alef, Ba" (A.B.) magazine, the director of the Iraqis department at the Foreign Ministry, Ibrahim Muhammad al-Azawi, said the pardon covers all Iraqis who received "humanitarian asylum" in any country and that they will not be exposed to any legal investigation if they return home or "any banning" from visiting their relatives or talking to them on the telephone.

He asserted that the new decision taken by the Iraqi authorities gives the Iraqis abroad the chance for all Iraqis from all nationalities to get rid of pressures and blackmail carried out by anti-Iraq sides."