Iraq's Criminal Procedure Code No. 23 of 1971: a map of its six books
Anyone caught up in a criminal matter in Iraq, whether as the person complaining or the person accused, soon hears the same statute cited at every step: the Criminal Procedure Code (Qanun Usul al-Muhakamat al-Jaza'iya). The office of lawyer Ali Barakat offers here a short map of that Code, book by book, so a reader can see where a particular question belongs before hunting for the exact article. The practical path of a complaint is described on the criminal complaint page.
The Code at a glance
The Code was issued as Law No. 23 of 1971 and published in the Official Gazette, issue 2004, on 31 May 1971. Article 372 brought it into force thirty days after publication, and article 371 repealed the earlier Baghdadi Code of Criminal Procedure with its supplements and amendments. It remains in force, and the Iraqi Legislation Database publishes the amended text with explanatory notes.
It works alongside the Penal Code No. 111 of 1969 but does a different job. The Penal Code says which acts are crimes and what penalties apply. The Procedure Code sets the route: who may start a case, who investigates, which court tries it, how a judgment is challenged and how it is carried out.
Book One: the criminal action
The first book answers the opening question of any case: how is a criminal action set in motion? It contains the rules on complaints and reports, the list in article 3 of offences that can only be prosecuted on the victim's complaint, and the three-month window in article 6. It also covers the civil claim that runs alongside the criminal one, letting an injured person seek compensation from the criminal court itself, and the rules on withdrawal in article 9. Under article 10, anyone who suffered direct material or moral harm may bring that civil claim by petition or by an oral request entered in the record at any point during evidence gathering, investigation or trial until judgment, but not for the first time on appeal to the Federal Court of Cassation. For how to file, see filing a criminal complaint.
Book Two: inquiry and the preliminary investigation
This book opens with article 39, which lists the members of the judicial police, and goes on to cover reporting crimes, police inquiries and the preliminary investigation conducted by the Investigating Judge and judicial investigators: witness statements, expert appointments and searches. It also holds the provisions that matter most to an individual's liberty: arrest (article 92 onwards), detention and release (from article 109), questioning of the accused (article 123), and the judge's decisions once the investigation ends (article 130 onwards). Detention has its own page, detention and bail.
Book Three: trial
The third book begins with article 137, which identifies the criminal courts, and then deals with the attendance of the accused and the other parties, procedure in summary and non-summary cases, the charge, the judgment, its reasoning and binding effect, and the trial of persons lacking full capacity. A separate chapter on conciliation (sulh) begins at article 194; it is explained on the criminal conciliation page.
Book Four: challenging a judgment
Book Four starts with objection to a judgment given in absence (article 243), continues with cassation appeals (from article 249) and correction of a cassation decision, and ends with retrial (from article 270). Retrial is available only in listed situations, for example where the person supposedly killed is found alive, or where facts or documents unknown at trial come to light. Today, cassation appeals against judgments in misdemeanour and felony cases go to the Federal Court of Cassation, while decisions of the Investigating Judge and judgments in petty-offence cases are challenged before the Court of Felonies sitting as a cassation court under article 265.
Book Five: enforcement
Article 280 opens this book with a basic safeguard: no penalty or measure may be carried out except under an enforceable judgment from a competent court. The provisions that follow cover custodial sentences, fines and other penalties.
Book Six: miscellaneous provisions
The last book begins with article 300, which lists the ways a criminal action comes to an end, such as the death of the accused, a final judgment, or an amnesty. It also contains several provisions with real practical weight: handling seized property, undertakings to keep the peace and of good behaviour, conditional release (article 331), the victim's pardon after sentence (article 338), and letters rogatory and extradition.
Reading the amended text
The notes in the Legislation Database show how far the 1971 text has moved. A 1979 decision replaced the word "hakim" with "qadi" (judge) throughout. Article 65 of the Judicial Organisation Law No. 160 of 1979 replaced "Grand Criminal Court" with "Court of Felonies". Article 123 was amended by Coalition Provisional Authority Memorandum No. 3 of 2003, so the Investigating Judge must now tell the accused, before questioning, of the right to stay silent and the right to a lawyer. Each article should therefore be read together with its note.
Legal basis and sources
Frequently asked questions
Is Law No. 23 of 1971 still in force?
Yes. The Iraqi Legislation Database lists it as in force, in its amended form.
How does it differ from the Penal Code?
The Penal Code No. 111 of 1969 defines crimes and penalties; the Procedure Code governs complaints, investigation, trial, appeals and enforcement.
Where are the conciliation rules?
In the conciliation chapter of Book Three, starting at article 194.
Related topics and articles
- 01Filing a criminal complaint and reporting an offenceComplaint versus report under Iraq's Criminal Procedure Code No. 23 of 1971: who may file and with whom, offences that need the victim's complaint, the three-month window, and the duty to report.
- 02Pretrial detention and release on bail during a criminal investigationDetention and release on bail under Iraq's Criminal Procedure Code No. 23 of 1971: the judicial order, three tiers by penalty, the fifteen-day and six-month limits, sureties, and challenging a detention decision.
- 03Police Station or Investigating JudgeWhere to file a criminal complaint in Iraq and how police stations, investigators and investigating judges differ: who receives complaints, territorial jurisdiction, arrest and detention, and following up.
- 04Waiving the personal right in a criminal caseWhat waiving the personal right does under Iraq's Criminal Procedure Code No. 23 of 1971: withdrawing the complaint versus the civil claim, when it closes the case and when it is not enough, and multiple parties.
- 05Conciliation (sulh) in a criminal case, and the victim's pardon after judgmentConciliation in Iraq's Criminal Procedure Code No. 23 of 1971: which offences qualify, when a judge must approve, timing and its acquittal-like effect, and the victim's pardon of a convicted person after judgment.