VZCZCXRO1134
RR RUEHBC RUEHDA RUEHDE RUEHIHL RUEHKUK
DE RUEHGB #0374/01 0440737
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 130737Z FEB 09 ZDK
FM AMEMBASSY BAGHDAD
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 1679
INFO RUCNRAQ/IRAQ COLLECTIVE
RUEAWJA/DEPT OF JUSTICE WASHDC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 BAGHDAD 000374 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR INL, NEA/I 
JUSTICE PASS TO JOHN EULER, ANDREW NORMAN 
 
E.O. 12958:   N/A 
TAGS: KJUS IZ
SUBJECT:  KRG JUDICIAL INDEPENDENCE AT ISSUE IN DRAFT LAW 
 
REF: 
¶1.  (U) SUMMARY:  The Kurdistan National Assembly (KNA) will 
consider a draft bill to establish a Judicial Institute in the 
Kurdish region, similar to the Judicial Training Institute of 
Baghdad, after their winter recess in January.  Rule of Law 
representatives from the Erbil RRT and Baghdad PRT and the Office of 
the Rule of Law Coordinator met with the Kurdistan Minister of 
Justice, the Chief Judge of the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) 
Court of Cassation and head of the Kurdish Judicial Institute, and 
the Kurdish National Assembly legal committee mid-December to 
discuss the law.  Drafting in the law stands at a crossroads, as the 
Kurds determine whether to structure the institute under the 
Executive or the independent judiciary. An educated, independent 
judiciary is essential to Rule of Law efforts in the region. 
Kurdish citizens will need to rely on the judiciary to resolve 
commercial disputes, guard procedural rights of defendants, as well 
as to protect human rights, women's rights, and the rights of 
minorities. END SUMMARY. 
 
BACKGROUND 
 
¶2.  (U) Since 1992, sectarian strife has prevented Kurdish 
individuals from attending the Judicial Training Institute in 
Baghdad. The resulting deficit of specialized judicial training for 
a large swath of appointed judges in the Kurdistan region 
potentially exacerbates problems common to the Iraqi criminal law 
system, such as confession-based hearings and failure to enforce the 
procedural rights of detained individuals. The newly established 
Shura Council within the Kurdistan Ministry of Justice (KMoJ) has 
drafted a bill to establish a judicial institute in the Kurdistan 
region.  This draft has been submitted to the Council of Ministers 
and will be considered by the KNA after their winter recess.  At an 
earlier meeting with the representatives of the Office of the Rule 
of Law Coordinator, the Director of the long-standing Baghdad 
Judicial Training Institute (JTI), Dr. Ahlam Al-Jabiri, expressed 
unofficial disapproval of the establishment of the Kurdistan 
Judicial Institute because she believes there should be one central 
institute in Iraq, but she confirmed that the JTI does not have 
Kurdish student participation. 
 
¶3.  (SBU) Until 2007, judicial affairs were handled within the KMoJ. 
The Kurdistan Region has been operating as a semi-autonomous region 
since 1992 with two sets of parallel institutions to those in the 
Federal Government. Until the Unification Agreement of January 21, 
2006, the two main Kurdish factions, the Kurdistan Democratic Party 
(KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), each had separate 
administrations. KDP controlled the provinces of Erbil and Dohuk and 
PUK, Sulemaniah. With Unification, the effort to establish an 
independent judiciary in the Kurdistan Region followed.  The 
judiciary was made independent from the executive branch by the 
Judicial Powers Act passed by the KNA in 2007. 
 
GOI JUDICIAL INSTITUTE UNDER MOJ (or EXECUTIVE) CONTROL 
 
¶4.  A similar restructuring occurred in Baghdad with the federal 
Higher Judicial Council (HJC) becoming independent from the 
executive branch in 2003.  However, the HJC was unsuccessful in its 
efforts to regain control over the JTI, which trains new judicial 
candidates.  This has been a source of consternation for the 
leadership of the HJC, as they consider Ministry of Justice (MoJ)- 
management of the institute, executive interference in judicial 
affairs, and because the status of a judge in a civil law system is 
highly desired, control over the selection of judges is vulnerable 
Qhighly desired, control over the selection of judges is vulnerable 
to politicization. The student body of the Institute comprises the 
majority of the incoming Iraqi judges, and although the Chief Judge 
of the Court of Cassation, Judge Medhat Mahmoud, is the Chairman of 
the JTI Governing Council, which is responsible for student 
selection and curriculum development, there is still a valid concern 
of executive influence in the vetting and training of Iraqi judges. 
The Director General of the JTI is a MoJ employee, not a judge, and 
is responsible for proposing curriculum updates to the governing 
council. 
 
KJC AND KNA LEGAL COMMITTEE CONCERNS FOR JUDICIAL INDEPENDENCE 
 
¶5.  (SBU) Discussions with the head of the Kurdistan Court of 
Cassation, Chief Judge Ahmed, reveal that the leadership of the KJC 
holds concerns similar to those of the HJC in regards to the current 
KMoJ draft law.  Chief Judge Ahmed said that he had discussed the 
situation with Chief Judge Medhat Mahmoud.  The current draft law 
for the Kurdistan Judicial Institute arguably creates additional 
concerns for judicial independence and politicization of the 
judiciary as it provides the Kurdistan Minister of Justice with a 
veto over the decisions of the Institute's Governing Council. The 
KNA Legal Committee raised this concern with U.S. representatives. 
They believe that structuring the judicial institute under the KMoJ 
could potentially conflict with the Judicial Powers law.  They 
pointed out inconsistencies in provisions in the Judicial Powers law 
 
BAGHDAD 00000374  002 OF 002 
 
 
of 2007 guaranteeing financial and administrative independence to 
the judiciary and provisions in the draft law locating the institute 
under direction of the KMoJ. 
 
U.S. REPS ADVISE STRUCTURING JUDICIAL INSTITUTE UNDER KJC 
 
¶6.  (SBU)  In regards to judicial independence, Rule of Law 
representatives from the Erbil RRT and Baghdad PRT and the Office of 
the Rule of Law Coordinator pointed out that the law could also 
potentially conflict with the Iraqi Federal Constitution and the 
currently drafted Kurdistan Regional Constitution, and highlighted 
the provision in the draft law giving a veto to the Ministry of 
Justice.  The Iraqi Federal Constitution states that the HJC is the 
competent body to manage judicial affairs in Iraq.  However, the 
linkage between HJC and KJC has been weak to date.  The HJC has room 
for representation from the KJC, but preliminary discussions on 
linkages between the two bodies have been held only recently.  The 
Kurdish Regional Constitution similarly states that the judiciary 
has power over all juridical persons within the Kurdistan region. 
The representatives asked the KNA legal committee if they had asked 
for guidance from the KJC regarding the law.  The Legal Committee 
said they would involve the KJC in review of the law, particularly 
because in their legal opinion, the judicial institute should be 
located under the KJC and not the KMoJ. 
 
LEGISLATING FOR INSTITUTE DEVELOPMENT ENCOURAGED 
 
 
¶7.  (SBU) The representatives said they were pleased by the 
inclusion of commercial law and forensics courses in the initial set 
curriculum and encouraged a substantial initial investment in 
infrastructure.  The draft law lacked an exception for waiving the 
requirement of 3 years legal experience in Iraq for foreign 
applicants.  The representatives suggested that due to the relative 
security of the North, the Kurdistan Judicial Institute had the 
potential to become a center of learning of interest to surrounding 
states, so it should perhaps not exclude foreign applicants, and 
that the Ministry should also consider arranging continuing legal 
education for judges at the institute.  The Minister and KNA 
appeared highly receptive to the suggestions for institute 
development, and expressed interest in gaining the advice from 
regional experts in developing the institute.  Judge Mansour Hadidi, 
General Director of the Judicial Institute of Jordan has agreed to 
act as an advisor to Kurdistan government officials in the 
development of a judicial institute. 
 
CROCKER