Baghdad — After a long, hard process of give and take, the Iraqi parliament approved a General Amnesty Law Aug. 25. The vote was 250-78, with a majority of the Sunni blocs supporting the law, while a group of Shiite legislators from the National Alliance opposed it. The law took effect immediately.

Debate on the law had been held Aug. 15 before being postponed to Aug. 23, due to the Badr Organization, Islamic Virtue Party and State of Law Coalition, all members of the National Alliance, withdrawing in protest against the reading of a previous draft of the legislation under which more people would qualify for release than they wanted. The Aug. 23 session was also postponed, due to differences among the political blocs.

People convicted between 2003 and the date the law was approved are eligible to apply for amnesty, except those convicted of 13 types of crimes, among them acts of terror resulting in death or permanent disability, human trafficking, rape, money laundering and embezzlement and theft of state funds. Investigating judges and competent courts are charged with implementing the provisions of the statute. If a convict is ruled ineligible for amnesty, he or she can appeal to the Court of Cassation.

Writer and political analyst Mohammed al-Kaabi told Al-Monitor that the passage of an amnesty law had been included as part of the political document allowing Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi to form a government in 2014. He said its delay was largely related to the crisis in confidence between the political components and the influence of foreign parties on Iraq's political and legislative institutions.