Iraq reveals hundreds of cases of corruption against accused abroad
“Iraq is represented by the judiciary and the public prosecution is constantly working on the issue of the recovery of fugitive defendants, but the response from other countries is not sufficient,” said a deputy prosecutor in Baghdad’s public prosecutor’s office, noting that 542 cases of corruption have been committed against suspects abroad since 2003.
“The extradition of criminals is a manifestation of cooperation between states to combat crimes and limit their spread, whereby a state extradites a person who resides in its territory to another country requesting him to be tried for the crime of committing or carrying out a sentence against him,” Judge Hana Ali Fayyad said.
She added that “the Iraqi legislator dealt with this subject through the Iraqi Code of Criminal Procedure No. 23 of 1971 and its amendments, which stipulated in Article 352 that he is in charge of the prosecution and the extradition of persons accused and sentenced to foreign countries, the provisions provided for in this law, International conventions, common law rules and the principle of reciprocity. ”
And on the procedures for the extradition of accused persons between countries, continued that “Chapter II of Chapter VII of the law referred to the conditions, controls and procedures and how to issue a decision to extradite in articles (357-368) of it and pursuant to the provisions of this article, consideration of the request for extradition is based on the treaty or the Convention between Iraq and the requesting State and in the absence of such a treaty or convention shall be based on the principle of reciprocity “.
She pointed out that “the implementation of the provisions of this law requires the submission of a request from the judicial authorities in the requesting countries to the judicial authorities in the State required to hand over the diplomatic route and through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in both States, provided that the request in writing accompanied by a full statement of the person requested extradition, If he is a national of the requesting State and an official copy of the warrant of arrest with the legal description of the crime and the judicial article with an official copy of the investigation papers and the decision of the verdict if it has been issued. ”
The Deputy Prosecutor talked about the role and position of the Interpol police in the recovery of criminals, stressing that “Iraq joined its membership in 1967, based in the French city of Paris and has offices in the capitals of all Member States and aims to further international cooperation in the fight against crime and prosecution of offenders and reduce the Proliferation, “noting that” the role of the Directorate of Arab International Police and associated with the Ministry of the Interior is effective in the extradition and recovery procedures. ”
But the judge stressed that “the most non-cooperative countries in the recovery of fugitives fleeing outside Iraq, especially when their presence in the countries of Jordan, Britain and America,” noting that “there are 542 cases of corruption against them in accordance with the provisions of articles (340/341/331/315/316/318) / 307 / and Resolution 160 of 1983) from 2003 until now “.
“The competent authorities to approve the recovery of criminals and fugitives outside Iraq is the head of the Public Prosecution, which organizes and follows up the files of the recovery of accused and convicted fugitives out of Iraq on the recommendations of the President of the Supreme Judicial Council as well as the Criminal Court appointed by the President of the Supreme Judicial Council pursuant to Article 361 Fundamentalism After the decision is issued by the competent criminal court, the papers are sent to the Supreme Judicial Council pursuant to the provisions of article 362 / C fundamentalist.
It also stressed that “the law imposed important points for the recovery of criminals is that a crime has been committed and the perpetrator escaped from the State where the crime occurred to another country was required to be extradited accused of committing an offense occurred within the territory of the requesting state or outside the laws of the requesting State and the laws of the Republic Iraq shall be punished by imprisonment or imprisonment for a term of not less than two years or any more severe penalty or issued by a court of the state requesting the extradition of imprisonment for a period of not less than six months or any more severe punishment.
“Article 40 of the Riyadh Convention on Legal and Judicial Cooperation, ratified by Law No. 110 of 1983, stipulates that the penalty shall be one year or more, or a sentence of absenteeism or attendance at the courts of the party requesting a penalty of one year or more.
The deputy prosecutor general of the prosecution, Hana Ali Fayyad, said that “all crimes committed in violation of the rules of criminal legislation of countries may be extradited, but some crimes are excluded. This exception is due to a national convention or legislation or a violation of international law.