The combining question comes in many forms. Can a martyr's son receive the martyr's family pension and his own government salary? Can a political prisoner receive both his Foundation salary and his retirement pension? Can Martyrs Foundation rights, Political Prisoners Foundation rights and compensation under Law No. 20 of 2009 all be held together? Each question has a different text, and no single answer fits them all.
The wider framework is on the page Political Prisoners Foundation and Martyrs Foundation.
Paragraph (t) of item 1 of Article 18 of the Martyrs Foundation Law No. 2 of 2016 as amended gives those covered by that law, by Law No. 20 of 2009 as amended, and by Law No. 4 of 2006 as amended the right to combine the rights and entitlements set out in those laws.
In practice: if a family has a covered political prisoner and a martyr covered by the Martyrs Foundation Law, one entitlement does not cancel the other merely because there are two. Each entitlement remains subject to its own conditions under its own law and committee.
Item 15 of Article 19 of the Political Prisoners Foundation Law, added by Law No. 10 of 2025, brings political prisoners and detainees in the Kurdistan Region under the law, then provides that beneficiaries are barred from holding two or more entitlements for the same harm or the same reasons, whether granted under the Region's laws, this law or any other law.
On the face of the text, the test is the same harm and its cause, not the number of laws. One detention is not compensated twice under two laws. Two different harms, such as a person's detention and a relative's martyrdom, are separate events. How far this limit reaches outside the Kurdistan context is read together with Article 18 of the Martyrs Foundation Law and the coverage decision in each file.
Item 10 of Article 17 allows a covered person to combine the salary under this law with any government salary, retirement pension or pension share received from the State, for a period counted from the date Law No. 4 of 2006 took effect:
When that period ends, item 14 of Article 19 (added in 2025) gives the covered employee the right, on retirement, to choose between keeping the retirement pension or returning to the salary granted by this law, from the request date and without retroactive effect.
Paragraph (a) of item 2 of Article 11 allows a covered person to combine the pension allocated under this law with their government salary, retirement pension, social welfare grant, any pension share or any salary, for twenty-five years counted from when the repealed Law No. 3 of 2006 took effect.
Paragraph (b) lists groups whose pension continues regardless: the martyr's parents and wife; the martyr's children, brothers, sisters, or the children of a son or daughter who have special needs, according to entitlement; and the martyr's daughters, sisters, or the daughters of a son or daughter who are unmarried and not employed, whose pension is restored when a marriage ends.
Paragraph (th) gives the covered person, once the period ends, the right to choose the higher of the martyr's pension entitlement and any other salary they receive. Paragraph (t) redistributes the pension equally among the others if it is stopped for one beneficiary.
| Law | Who may combine | Combining period | Counted from |
|---|---|---|---|
| Political Prisoners Foundation Law, Article 17, item 10 | Political prisoner, detainee held one year or more, female detainee held thirty days or more | 25 years | Law No. 4 of 2006 taking effect |
| Political Prisoners Foundation Law, Article 17, item 10 | All other covered persons | 10 years | Law No. 4 of 2006 taking effect |
| Martyrs Foundation Law, Article 11, item 2, paragraph (a) | Any person covered by it | 25 years | The repealed Law No. 3 of 2006 taking effect |
Paragraph (c) of item 5 of Article 22, as amended in 2025, passes the salary to the covered person's family on death and divides it equally among them. The family means the spouse, first-degree relatives and heirs under the sharia inheritance deed (Article 5).
Article 5, item 4 of the Martyrs Foundation Law treats children and minors of a martyr's family who were held or detained with their martyred relatives, or because of them, as political prisoners. One person may therefore be a member of a martyr's family and at the same time be treated as a political prisoner.
Yes, for the period set in Article 11, item 2, paragraph (a), with groups whose payment continues afterwards and a right to choose the higher salary once the period ends.
Article 18 of the Martyrs Foundation Law gives a right to combine the rights of the three laws, subject to the bar on double compensation for the same harm.
It passes to the family and is divided equally among them under Article 22 as amended.
The office reads coverage decisions and multiple salaries within one file, without estimating amounts.
Iraq's 2025 Political Prisoners Law amendment: welfare fund, Reconsideration Committee, land, retirement choice, Kurdistan prisoners, salary transfer.
Read →The Political Prisoners Welfare Fund under Law 10 of 2025: legal personality, a 2 per cent subscription cap, and welfare purposes.
Read →What Law 23 of 2024 changed in the Martyrs Foundation Law: categories, committees, land and the Martyrs Fund, from the official text.
Read →