Iraq's Interior Ministry will have the power to arrest foreign guards involved in shooting incidents if parliament approves a bill ending foreign security firms' immunity from prosecution, the minister said on Monday. Jawad al-Bolani also said he believed Iraq would soon need fewer foreign security contractors given that violence had dropped sharply in recent months.
Cabinet approved the draft law at the end of October in the wake of a September 16 shooting involving U.S. security firm Blackwater in which 17 Iraqis were killed. Blackwater said its guards acted lawfully, but the shooting enraged the Iraqi government.
The bill on foreign security guards has yet to be debated in parliament but it should pass easily. Iraqi officials have previously made clear it would make foreign guards liable under Iraqi law, but they have not been specific about carrying out arrests. Asked if Interior Ministry forces could arrest foreign security contractors involved in shootings, Bolani said: "Yes, when the law is passed". |