What did Law No. 23 of 2024 change in the Martyrs Foundation Law?
Law No. 23 of 2024 is the first amendment to Martyrs Foundation Law No. 2 of 2016. It was issued on 29/9/2024, published in Al-Waqa’i Al-Iraqiya No. 4796 of 7/10/2024, and entered into force on the date of publication. This article sets out the main official changes, without rewriting every topic page. The application path after the amendment is in A martyr's file, and the categories are in Who is a martyr.
Categories, the deed of death, and who is not treated as family
The amendment added paragraph (c) to Article 1: Peshmerga and security-agency martyrs who died in areas outside the Kurdistan Region. It added to Article 4 a fourth paragraph adopting a deed of death issued after 8/4/2003 by the courts, proving death by judgment for persons for whom the reviewing committee has issued coverage decisions, as a case of martyrdom. The court that issues the deed is the Personal Status Court or the Personal Matters Court for non-Muslims, as explained in The martyr's certificate.
It also recast paragraph Second of Article 5 on who is not treated as a member of a martyr's family for the purposes of this law: a person who worked with the repressive agencies of the former Baath Party — including those the text lists: general security, intelligence, special security, special guards, national security, military security, Saddam's Fedayeen, military intelligence and the other repressive formations — or with terrorist gangs, or any other terrorist name, or anyone who collaborated with them, or who caused the martyr's death, or who is covered by the Accountability and Justice Law or the Anti-Terrorism Law. That paragraph is read from the text in force, with care, and without adding exceptions that are not in the adopted wording.
The structure of the Foundation and the Martyrs Fund
The amendment redrew Article 7: the administrative and financial department, the legal department, the department of economy, investment and development, the department for the protection of mass graves and missing persons, the social and health department, the Martyrs Fund, the Directorate of Directorates and Committees Affairs, and other formations the text organises. Each nominated formation is managed by a director-general under Article 8 as replaced. The head of the Foundation has the rank of minister, and has a deputy with the rank of deputy minister (Article 6 as replaced).
The Martyrs Fund was organised with legal personality and financial and administrative independence, to care for and support a martyr's family. That fund is not the Political Prisoners Welfare Fund established in another law in 2025. The amendment also requires the Foundation to create a national register of missing persons covered by this law and by Mass Graves Affairs and Protection Law No. 5 of 2006, as amended, and to submit a yearly report on its activities to the Committee for Martyrs, Victims and Political Prisoners in the Council of Representatives.
Committees, land and salary
In Article 9, the Committee for Reviewing the Applications of Martyrs' Families remains formed in Baghdad and the governorates, chaired by a legal official who is a member of a martyr's family, with four members. The path of challenge before the Appeals Committee after the grievance, and then before the Administrative Judiciary Court in accordance with the law, was recast. A judgment of the Administrative Judiciary Court may be challenged by cassation before the Supreme Administrative Court within thirty days of notification, under Article 7 of State Shura Council Law No. 65 of 1979, as amended by Law No. 17 of 2013.
On land, the amendment replaced paragraphs First, Second and Fourth of Article 13: a housing unit or a plot of land, with a real-estate grant, is allocated to the parents, to the widow and children, and to the full siblings in the case the text sets out, with exemption from the hometown rule and from Decision No. 120 of 1982, and with the rule also applying to persons covered by Law No. 20 of 2009, as amended, where the text so provides. The detail is in A plot of land. The opening of Article 16, on a family with more than one martyr, was also amended, and Article 15 on the construction of units and complexes was reorganised.
On salary, the amendment retained combining for twenty-five years from the date the repealed Law No. 3 of 2006 entered into force, in the wording of Article 11(2)(a). The phrase “the repealed law” is explained in Martyrs Foundation Law No. 3 of 2006. Paragraphs of Article 17 on study leave and some study and hajj privileges were also recast, and are read with Education privileges and Hajj. Article 18 confirmed that obtaining the rights under this law does not extinguish a claim to other rights under civil or criminal liability, and that combining with the rights under Law No. 20 of 2009 and Law No. 4 of 2006 is allowed under the text.
The amendment repealed Article 12 of Law No. 2 of 2020 (the second amendment to Compensation Law No. 20 of 2009). The effect of that repeal is read in the context of the compensation law, within the limits of the repealed text and the result of the repeal.
The amendment’s stated reasons, as set out at the end of the law, speak of reviewing the organisational and administrative structure, finding resources for the Martyrs Fund, and bringing the treatment of those covered by this law closer to that of those covered by Law No. 20 of 2009. Those reasons help in understanding the legislator’s intent, but they do not replace reading the articles in force when they are applied.
Legal basis and sources
- Law No. 23 of 2024, the First Amendment to Martyrs Foundation Law No. 2 of 2016 (Al-Waqa’i Al-Iraqiya No. 4796 of 7/10/2024)
- Martyrs Foundation Law No. 2 of 2016
- State Shura Council Law No. 65 of 1979, as amended by Law No. 17 of 2013
Frequently asked questions
Did Law No. 23 of 2024 repeal the 2016 law?
No. It is a first amendment to it. Law No. 2 of 2016 remains in force as amended.
What is the main addition to the definition of a martyr?
The paragraph on Peshmerga and security-agency martyrs who died outside the Kurdistan Region, together with the adoption of a deed of death after 8/4/2003 as a case of martyrdom, subject to the conditions of that paragraph.
Did the appeal path change?
The path remains: the reviewing committee, then a grievance, then the Appeals Committee, then the Administrative Judiciary Court in accordance with the law, then cassation before the Supreme Administrative Court within thirty days of notification.
Where should the land allocation after 2024 be read?
In Article 13 as amended, and on the land page on this site.