IRAQ LAUNCHES EMERGENCY LAW
BAGHDAD ø Iraq's new interim government has acquired the power to
impose martial law.
Officials said the government has claimed the authority to impose
curfews, ban demonstrations, conduct search operations, detain individuals
with firearms and freeze assets of suspected insurgents. The new powers
announced by the government also enabled authorities to conduct intensive
surveillance of suspected insurgents, including monitoring their telephones,
faxes and e-mail communications.
The period of martial law was set at 60 days, which could then be
renewed, officials said. They said the government was likely to maintain the
emergency measures until after national elections, scheduled for January
2005.
"We realize this law might restrict some liberties," Justice Minister
Malik Al Hassan said. "But there are a number of guarantees. We have tried
to guarantee justice and also to guarantee human rights."
Prime Minister Iyad Alawi would require approval from the Presidential
Council to launch the emergency measures. The council is composed of the
president and two vice presidents.
Officials said the emergency law allowed authorities to declare martial
rule in any area of Iraq deemed as endangered by insurgents. They said the
measures were meant to restrict the movement of foreigners suspected of
having entered Iraq to join the insurgency.
The insurgents have included fighters from a range of Middle East
countries. Officials said they included those from Egypt, Iran, Jordan,
Morocco, the Palestinian Authority, Saudi Arabia, Syria and Turkey.
The measures were meant to reverse the growing paralysis in local and
national government caused by daily insurgency attacks. Officials said
government employees have refused to report to work amid the suicide car
bombing campaign by Al Qaida-aligned insurgents aided by loyalists to Saddam
Hussein. They said the problem has been endemic throughout Baghdad and the
Sunni Triangle.
Iraqi officials did not specify what role the United States would have
in enforcing martial law in Iraq. In Washington, U.S. Defense Secretary
Donald Rumsfeld said it was too early to tell what role U.S. or coalition
forces would play under the new security measures adopted by the Iraqi
government.
The announcement of emergency law came as the Iraqi Cabinet was
discussing an amnesty offer for Iraqi insurgents. They said the offer would
not include those who ordered suicide bombings that resulted in casualties.