BAGHDAD — The Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) do not hold any legal status in Iraq, with the exception of the Council of Ministers’ decision July 25, which considers the PMU a force working in parallel with the counterterrorism department at the Ministry of Interior. This means that anti-PMU parties or individuals can still press charges against some PMU elements. Therefore, the Shiite Iraqi National Alliance has been seeking to pass a new law it calls “PMU legal immunity” before battles against the Islamic State (IS) come to an end.

The proposal was put forth by parliament members in the Security and Defense Committee along with former Justice Minister Hassan al-Shamari.

During a press conference Sept. 18, Shamari requested that the largely Shiite PMU “not engage in battles and fighting in IS-controlled cities until said law is passed,” warning against “possible accusations of breaches against them following the liberation of some cities from IS clutches by the same groups who demanded they intervene to expel the terrorist group.”

Iskandar Watout, the deputy head of parliament’s Security and Defense Committee, told Al-Monitor, “About 70 parliamentarians have signed the draft bill on legal immunity for PMU elements, whereby they would be treated on a legal par with any soldier in the Iraqi army.”