BAGHDAD, June 30 (UPI) -- President Ghazi al-Yawer said Wednesday the death penalty would be reinstated in Iraq and a general amnesty would be granted those not involved in terrorism.
"Three important decisions will be issued in the near future including the reinstatement of a national security law which is less severe than emergency laws but firm in punishing terrorist acts," al-Yawer said on his third day in power, in an interview with the Saudi daily al-Sharq al-Awsat.
He said only those "whose hands were not stained with the blood of the Iraqi people and who have not committed terrorist acts and massacres in which Iraqis were slain will benefit from general amnesty."
Al-Yawer noted that the death penalty "will be reinstated but with rules that comply with the norms applied in most countries of the world."
Only crimes such as rape, kidnapping, killing, undermining state security and other actions that fall within the framework of terrorism will be punishable by death, he added.
In Baghdad, sources close to the government told UPI that Prime Minister Iyad Allawi might declare emergency law in the coming 48 hours.
The sources said the law would grant Allawi extraordinary powers to deal with security matters, including imposing curfews and isolating Iraqi regions to prevent military actions that threaten the state and its institutions.
