Mam Jalal: The Only Kurd Exempted From Saddam's Amnesty

PUKMEDIA

Late President Mam Jalal.

On September 8, 1988, 36 years ago, the Ba'ath Party held a meeting and issued a general amnesty for all Iraqi Kurds, with the exception of President Mam Jalal.

A decision titled (General and Comprehensive Amnesty for All Iraqi Kurds) issued in September 1988 states: “Based on Article 42, paragraph 1, of the Iraqi Constitution, the Revolutionary Council decided at its meeting on September 8, 1988, to include all Iraqi Kurds covered by the declaration of the Revolutionary Leadership Council of September 6, 1988, in a general and broad amnesty for any act punishable by law and committed before the decision of the Revolutionary Leadership Council on September 6, 1988, whether they were outside or inside Iraq, but those who committed stealing and murder will be exempted from this decision.”

Another part of the decision states: “Every Kurd who is convicted or detained will be granted a general amnesty, and his case will be closed and released, unless they are convicted or detained in other cases."

"This general amnesty does not apply only to Jalal Talabani," the third paragraph of the ruling said unequivocally.


President Mam Jalal became Iraq's president on April 6, 2005, approximately 17 years after that decision, after being elected by the Iraqi National Assembly (the Iraqi parliament at the time). He was the first Kurd in Iraq's political history to be elected president, as well as the first president chosen by the Iraqi parliament since the country's inception in the 1920s, and he served two terms consecutively.



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