BAGHDAD (AFP) — The Iraqi cabinet on Tuesday backed a law that revokes the immunity granted to private security firms operating in the war-ravaged country, after a deadly shooting involving a US contractor.
"The cabinet today approved a new draft law which puts all private security companies under the Iraqi law," government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh told AFP. "These companies will not get immunity and will be subject to Iraqi law."
Dabbagh said the bill would soon be presented to parliament for approval.
The issue of immunity has been hotly debated after a series of shootouts involving private security guards, including a September 16 incident when employees of the US company Blackwater fired on civilians in Baghdad, killing 17.
The Blackwater shooting laid bare a lack of accountability for firms working for the US State Department in Iraq.
Last Wednesday the cabinet announced it had decided to formally revoke the immunity enjoyed by the foreign private security companies operating in Iraq.
The draft law intends to replace the article covering security companies that was issued by the US-led Coalition Provision Authority set up in 2004 after the invasion of Iraq.
The relevant order issued by then US administrator for Iraq, Paul Bremer, stipulates that the "multinational force, foreign liaison missions, their personnel, property, funds and assets and all international consultants shall be immune from Iraqi legal process."
On Tuesday, the US media reported that US State Department investigators offered immunity deals to the Blackwater security guards accused of killing the 17 Iraqis.
If confirmed, it could complicate efforts to prosecute the guards -- especially since the State Department's Bureau of Diplomatic Security did not have the authority to grant immunity, unnamed government officials told The New York Times.
Most of the guards involved in the shooting were promised they would not be prosecuted for anything said in their interviews with investigators as long as their statements were truthful, the Times reported.
US Justice Department prosecutors who do have the authority to grant immunity had no advance knowledge of the arrangement, the officials told the Times.
Asked to comment on the report, a State Department official told AFP: "It's an ongoing investigation, and we don't comment on ongoing investigations."
The department's stance was repeated by Dabbagh in Baghdad who said: "It would not be possible to make a comment before the entire investigation into the shooting is complete."
The Washington Post reported that FBI agents who took charge of the investigation in October could not use any of the information obtained from questions by the earlier State Department probe.
One law enforcement official told the Post that some of the Blackwater guards had refused interviews with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, citing the earlier immunity promises.
The deals "make things a lot more complicated and difficult," the official told the Post.
Blackwater boss Erik Prince has rejected an official Iraqi report that said the killings were unprovoked, insisting his men were fired upon.
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