Legal experts: Amending the Official Gazette is “permissible,” and the decision regarding the Houthis and Hezbollah is international and binding on Iraq.
Legal experts confirmed on Thursday the legality of correcting any decision published in the Iraqi Gazette, but stressed that the decision to classify the Houthis and Hezbollah as terrorist organizations was based on the classification of the UN Security Council, which is internationally binding .
Legal expert Ali al-Tamimi told Shafaq News Agency that “the committee for freezing terrorists’ funds is located in the General Secretariat of the Council of Ministers, and it is headed by the Governor of the Central Bank. The committee also includes the Director of the Anti-Money Laundering Office and representatives from the Ministries of Finance, Interior, Foreign Affairs, Justice, Trade and Communications, in addition to the Integrity Commission and the Counter-Terrorism Service .”
He added that “the committee was formed under the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Law No. (39) of 2015, as well as the Terrorists’ Funds Freezing System No. (6) of 2023. One of the main tasks of this committee is to follow up on the resolutions issued by the UN Security Council, as there is a sanctions committee in the Security Council that was formed under Security Council resolutions from 1999 to 2015, and it is the one that issues the resolutions related to freezing funds, and the Funds Freezing Committee in Iraq is committed to implementing them based on the applicable laws .”
He continued, “As for the Houthis and Hezbollah, the Committee for Freezing Terrorist Funds has adopted the UN Security Council resolutions that stipulated freezing the funds of these entities, and it is implementing those resolutions as they are internationally binding .”
He stressed, “As for retracting decisions, it is available and legally permissible, and it is published in the Iraqi Gazette, based on the Publication Law in the Official Gazette No. (78) of 1977, which allows the authority that issued the decision to issue a correction or explanatory statement when needed .”
The Iraqi authorities – the Committee for Freezing Terrorist Funds – have included the Lebanese Hezbollah and the Ansar Allah (Houthi) group in Yemen on their lists, in implementation of a package of Security Council resolutions on combating terrorism and its financing, according to what was stated in issue 4848 of the Iraqi Gazette issued on November 17, 2025 .
For his part, legal expert Abbas Al-Aqabi told Shafaq News Agency that “according to Article 8 of the Iraqi Gazette Law (typographical errors that occur during publication are corrected in a statement issued by the entity that issued the original, and the correction is published in the Iraqi Gazette), if the error was made unintentionally, it is corrected, and if it was from the Central Bank, it is also corrected by a decision from them .”
He explained, “But what is striking is that the committee that issued the decision through the statement of the General Secretariat of the Council of Ministers presented the names of Hezbollah and the Houthis, and according to their statement, approval was not obtained to include them in the list .”
The Iraqi authorities quickly backed down from including the Lebanese Hezbollah and the Ansar Allah-Houthi group on the lists of frozen terrorist funds, after publishing an official clarification and a document issued by the Central Bank of Iraq confirming that Baghdad’s approval was limited to entities and individuals linked exclusively to ISIS and Al-Qaeda .
On Thursday, outgoing Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani ordered an “urgent” investigation into the decision to freeze the funds of the Lebanese Hezbollah and the Houthi group, which was published in the official Iraqi newspaper Al-Waqi’ and sparked widespread controversy in political circles, especially those that support the so-called “axis of resistance” in the country .
Shafaq.com