policy
In light of ongoing efforts to consolidate the rule of law and protect civil peace in the country, the executive authorities have issued decisive directives obligating all state institutions to take immediate legal action against any entity or person involved in media incitement or obstructing efforts aimed at state weapons control. An official statement was issued by the Prime Minister's Media Office confirming that freedom of opinion, expression, and media work, guaranteed constitutionally and legally, are practiced in the Iraqi national space within the framework of the law, respect for public order, and citizens' rights, and they may not be used as a means to incite violence or internal fighting, or to support weapons outside the framework of the state, or to support outlawed groups. From this perspective, and in order to preserve societal peace and enable the state to perform its legal and moral duties, it obligates all its institutions to apply the law and initiate penal complaints against anyone who undertakes, participates, or contributes to media incitement or obstructs state decisions to restrict weapons. This stance is always based on the Iraqi Constitution and applicable laws, in accordance with Anti-Terrorism Law No. 13 of 2005, Article 4 and Article 2, and this is what the esteemed Supreme Judicial Council approved through its confirmation that the use of weapons, supporting them, or waving them outside the framework of the state falls under the anti-terrorism law, and penalties according to the law for the instigator, financier, and contributor to terrorist acts reach the penalty of the principal perpetrator, as well as in accordance with the Iraqi Penal Code No. 111 of 1969 and its amendments, Article 195 which stated that whoever drives citizens to arm themselves against each other and urges fighting, and Articles 81, 82, and 83 concerning criminal responsibility in publishing crimes, as this legal responsibility is determined against the direct person responsible for publication and its content, in the event that the displayed media content turns into a public crime that threatens community security and incites its commission. It is worth noting that the government, through this legal path, exercises its duties in protecting civil peace, preserving internal security and stability, as well as the right of citizens to receive protection against crimes of disinformation, broadcasting distorted information, and deliberate abuse attempts, and to provide them with the strength of the law as immunity against falsehood, and everything that targets the security of Iraq and the safety of our people.
