[JURIST] Iraqi Shiite leader Abdel Aziz al-Hakim [SourceWatch profile], head of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq [party website], said Monday that he would like the amnesty provision of the proposed national reconciliation plan [text and press release; JURIST report] to also cover insurgents who may have killed US servicemen. Al-Hakim's comments contrast sharply with those made by Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki [BBC profile] last week when he clarified his vague plan by saying that amnesty would apply only to insurgents who did not kill anyone [JURIST report]. Al-Hakim, however, added that he opposes negotiations with loyalists from Saddam Hussein's former regime and extremist Sunni Arab militants.

Al-Maliki's plan prompted immediate denuciations by several US senators [JURIST report] who feared that it would apply to insurgents who killed US personnel. Last week, Iraq's Council of Ministers elaborated on al-Maliki's plan [JURIST report] by saying the government would make every effort to return detainees granted amnesty to their lives before their detention, including giving back government jobs and returning students to school, considering their jobs and education uninterrupted. AFP has more.