Sunnis push to head Iraq constitution amendments committee News
Sunnis push to head Iraq constitution amendments committee

[JURIST] The dominant Sunni Arab political party Iraqi Accordance Front (IAF) [Wikipedia backgrounder] on Tuesday called for a leading role on a legislative committee that will consider possible amendments to the Iraqi constitution [JURIST news archive] in upcoming months. Senior IAF official Iyad al-Samarrai said the IAF should lead the committee because the party had demanded the opportunity to amend the constitution after it was approved in a referendum [JURIST report] last fall. The Iraqi parliament is expected to begin discussing the formation of the committee after it convenes Wednesday for the first time since December elections.

Iraqi leaders agreed to form the constitutional committee last fall as part of a US-brokered last-minute deal [JURIST report] that allowed the constitutional referendum to go forward despite concerns over support from the Sunni population. Sunnis are concerned that the current constitution gives too much autonomy to Kurds and Shiites, who control the oil-rich portions of the country. Reuters has more.

THIS DAY @ LAW

Georgia became first US state to ban lynching

On December 20, 1893, Georgia became the first state in the Union to pass a law against lynching, making the act punishable by four years in prison. The statute was not particularly effective—read the text of the 1899 pamphlet Lynch Law in Georgia by anti-lynching activist Ida Wells-Barnett.