The Special Committee (al-Lajna al-Khassa) of the Political Prisoners Foundation is the body that decides whether a person is covered (Article 10, item 1). What it builds its decision on is evidence. The law does not leave the order of evidence to discretion: it starts with official paperwork and opens the door to testimony only once that paperwork is exhausted.
The wider framework is on the page Political Prisoners Foundation and Martyrs Foundation.
Item 5 of Article 7 allows one or more special committees to be formed. Each is chaired by a law graduate with at least five years' experience who is himself covered by the law. Its members are a Ministry of Finance representative, a Ministry of Interior representative, and two political prisoners who are not State employees, chosen by the Foundation's head.
Rafha detainees have a separate special committee (paragraph (c)), with representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Migration and Displaced, the Foundation and the Rafha detainees. Both committees meet with four members present and decide by majority, with the chair's vote prevailing in a tie (Article 10, item 2). The formal procedures of the committees follow the Civil Procedure Law (Article 10, item 5).
Item 4 of Article 6 makes "written evidence recognised by law" the starting point. The text gives examples: entries in the official records of government bodies and departments, schools, institutes and colleges, for anyone who was an employee, a student or in public service at the time of imprisonment or detention.
In practice, a service file or school record may show a trace of the interruption: a dismissal order, a cancelled registration (tarqin qaid), or absence from work together with its recorded reason. That trace is read alongside its date, because the two periods in Article 5 decide what can be accepted.
Item 5 of Article 6 obliges the Special Committee to exhaust official evidence and to write to the departments connected with proving the imprisonment, detention or holding before using other means of proof. Official correspondence is the committee's duty, not a burden thrown entirely on the applicant.
Once written evidence is exhausted, item 4 permits proof by direct eyewitness testimony, from inside or outside the prison or detention centre, supported by circumstantial indications (qara'in), or recourse to Evidence Law No. 107 of 1979 as amended. On the wording of the text, bare testimony without supporting indications is not enough on its own.
| Document | What it usually proves |
|---|---|
| Official record at a department where the person worked | The date of leaving the post and the recorded reason |
| School, institute or college record | The student's interruption and its date |
| Official documents of the detaining authority | The fact and length of imprisonment or detention |
| International documents for Rafha detainees (United Nations, Red Cross, International Organization for Migration) | Detention in the camp, under Article 6 of Instructions No. 1 of 2024 as amended |
| Official documents from the detaining State outside Iraq | Detention in centres outside Iraq, under Article 6, item 2 of the same Instructions |
| Direct eyewitness testimony supported by indications | Accepted after written evidence is exhausted |
This table explains what each kind of evidence does. It is not an official list of documents for a particular application; what the Foundation actually asks for is known from its notices and its directorates.
A grievance against the Special Committee's decision goes to the Appeals Body within thirty days (Article 10, item 3). Where proof was the reason for refusal, the grievance usually focuses on official evidence the committee did not exhaust, or on indications it did not examine. See Challenging a non-coverage decision.
The Foundation can also reconsider a coverage decision issued contrary to the law, and the grant of rights may be suspended temporarily until the matter is finally decided (Article 3, item 3 of Instructions No. 1 of 2024). So the evidence file stays important even after a favourable decision.
The text requires direct eyewitness testimony supported by circumstantial indications, and only after written evidence has been exhausted.
Item 5 of Article 6 obliges the committee to write to the relevant departments. The applicant may still submit whatever papers they hold.
Yes. The Instructions provide for accepting them unless they conflict with the dates of the uprising or with official records.
Its formal procedures follow the Civil Procedure Law under Article 10, item 5, while proof follows Article 6 and the Evidence Law.
The office helps arrange the evidence and read the service or school record, because the special committee builds its decision on what official documents establish as to status and period.
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