IRAQ: Iraq's new government yesterday announced sweeping emergency powers to set curfews, cordon off insecure areas, and detain suspected insurgents, as fighting in central Baghdad raised the prospect of a resurgence of violence nine days after the handover of sovereignty, writes Mark Turner in Baghdad
The security announcement also came as Al Jazeera television broadcast a threat from gunmen to kill a Filipino man working in Iraq they had taken hostage unless Manila withdraws its forces from the country within 72 hours. The group said it killed an Iraqi security guard with the Filipino, who, it said, worked for a Saudi company working with US forces.
In a joint press conference on Iraq's new security law, the ministers of justice and human rights said the "Order of Safeguarding National Security" was essential to confront Iraq's debilitating instability, and conceded the measures would curb Iraqis' hard-won new freedoms.
But they also insisted it contained significant safeguards of Iraqi rights, including judicial review. "We realise this law might restrict some liberties, but there are a number of guarantees," said Mr Malik al-Hassan, the justice minister. He said the government had to ensure Iraq's general election, scheduled by the end of January, went ahead on time.
Under the new rules, the government can impose emergency law for 60 days in defined areas, and if necessary to extend it for 30-day intervals, to combat "a danger of grave proportions".
Its powers would include detaining suspicious individuals, freezing the assets of people accused of armed disobedience, isolating and searching areas suspected of harbouring insurgents, and restricting travel.
The prime minister can delegate authority to "those he chooses among military or civilian officials".
But the ministers said no decision had yet been taken on when and where to apply the law, and said discussions were still under way on how to offer amnesty to rebels who laid down their arms.
In an apparent attempt to allay concern over a return to authoritarian rule, Mr Bakhtiar Amin, Iraq's human rights minister, said yesterday's order was "very similar" to the US Patriot Act, and French anti-terrorism laws in the 1980s.
While individual liberties were sacrosanct, he said, the right to life came first.
Mr Hassan stressed any order by Mr Iyad Allawi, the prime minister, needed the consent of the presidency and the majority of the cabinet, and would require public explanation.
Yesterday, the rationale for the law was thrown into sharp relief. Firing and explosions could be heard from outside the conference hall where the ministers spoke, as a battle raged in central Baghdad between government forces, US troops and suspected foreign insurgents. Two US helicopters fired at a building in the Haifa Street area, a witness said, and several Iraqi soldiers lay dead on the Abu al-Muadham bridge.
Earlier in the day, guerrillas fired four rockets near Mr Allawi's home in western Baghdad, wounding a woman and her daughter, the prime minister told reporters.
One US soldier was wounded and two vehicles were damaged in what the military called indirect fire in western Baghdad, and the US said guerrillas killed four US marines west of Baghdad on Tuesday.
US forces have recently conducted strikes, which the Iraqi government said it approved, on houses in Faluja against suspected members of the Zarkawi terrorist network. The government continued to blame foreign elements for the violence, and said it was holding 29 Arabs in Abu Ghraib prison, including a Moroccan who also claimed British nationality and residence in several European countries. - (Financial Times)