The martyr's family is defined in Article 1 of the Martyrs Foundation Law No. 2 of 2016, amended by Law No. 23 of 2024: the parents and children; the husband and wives, even if not Iraqi; the brothers and sisters; and the children of a son and of a daughter. But the definition alone is not enough: the martyrdom must fall within a period the law covers (Article 4), and neither the applicant nor the martyr may belong to an excluded group (Article 5).
The full framework is on the page Political Prisoners Foundation and Martyrs Foundation.
Paragraph (a) of item 1 of Article 1 covers an Iraqi citizen, or a non-Iraqi resident in Iraq, who gave or lost their life directly as a result of the Baath Party's crimes, including execution, imprisonment or torture or their consequences, genocide, chemical weapons, crimes against humanity, physical liquidation, forced displacement, those who disappeared or were found in mass graves, and those who deserted military service. The condition is that this happened because of opposition to the regime in opinion, belief or political affiliation, or sympathy with or help to its opponents.
The law applies to these cases if they occurred from 8/2/1963 to 18/11/1963, or from 17/7/1968 to 8/4/2003 (Article 4, items 1 and 2). Article 4, item 1 excludes anyone executed in the first period for murders unrelated to opposition.
Paragraph (b) covers every Iraqi citizen who gave their life from 11/6/2014 in response to the call mentioned in the text, provided they fought the ISIS terrorist organisation and were martyred because of it. The text charges the Popular Mobilisation Commission and the Martyrs Foundation, in coordination with the relevant bodies, the Kurdistan Region, and provincial councils, with documenting the names even if not registered with the Popular Mobilisation Commission, and then submitting the files to the Committee for Reviewing the Applications of Martyrs' Families. This category runs under Article 4, item 3.
The 2024 amendment added paragraph (t): Peshmerga and security-force martyrs killed in areas outside the Kurdistan Region.
The 2024 amendment added item 4 to Article 4: a death certificate (hujjat wafat) issued by a court after 8/4/2003 that establishes death presumptively is accepted as a case of martyrdom for those who received coverage decisions from the review committee. This matters for files of disappeared persons who were never found.
Item 2 of Article 1 sets out four groups:
Item 9 of Article 20 exempts non-Iraqi members of a martyr's family from the condition of holding Iraqi nationality and grants them all entitlements under the law.
Article 5, item 1 does not cover anyone whose death resulted from internal party or power-related purges, or personal disputes, among those who worked with or cooperated with the former regime's repressive organs, or anyone covered by the Accountability and Justice Law.
Article 5, item 2 does not treat as a martyr's family anyone who worked with those organs or with terrorist gangs under any name, or cooperated with them, or caused the martyr's death, or falls under the Accountability and Justice Law or the Anti-Terrorism Law.
Article 5, item 3: by official documents first and, where none exist, by other legal means of proof before the review committee or the Courts of First Instance (mahakim al-bidaa) under Article 9. Article 5, item 4 treats children and minors of a martyr's family who were held with their relatives or because of them as political prisoners.
Yes. Brothers and sisters are listed in item 2 of Article 1.
Yes. The text mentions the husband and wives even if not Iraqi, and Article 20, item 9 exempts them from the nationality condition.
The children of a son and of a daughter are listed expressly.
The first category is tied to the periods in Article 4, items 1 and 2; the second to fighting ISIS from 11/6/2014. Compensation for those harmed by terrorist operations generally runs under Law No. 20 of 2009.
The office identifies which category fits the file before anything is filed with the committee.
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