Shafaq News

Any armed activity conducted outside state authority after September 30, 2026, will be prosecuted under Iraq's anti-terrorism law, the State Administration Coalition (SAC) stated on Wednesday, describing parties that threaten national security as outlaws who must be confronted.

The coalition, which brings together the country's main Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish blocs, linked the position to its commitment to placing all weapons under exclusive state control, and expressed support for restricting arms to the state under a ministerial program that parliament has approved and that is now in force as law.

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The September 30 date corresponds to a government timetable to bring all arms under state control, a process that coincides with the scheduled end of the US-led Global Coalition mission in Iraq. Iranian-backed factions, many of them formally part of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), an umbrella of predominantly Shiite armed groups, are the principal focus of that effort.

What The Anti-Terrorism Law Defines

Iraq's Counter-Terrorism Act, Law No. 13 of 2005, defines terrorism as any criminal act committed by an individual or an organized group that targets people, or official or unofficial institutions, and that damages public or private property with the aim of undermining security, stability or national unity, spreading terror among the population, or fomenting chaos for terrorist ends. The law was promulgated by the Presidency Council under the Law of Administration for the State of Iraq during the Transitional Period, the framework that governed the country at the time.

Article 2 enumerates the acts the law classifies as terrorism. They include violence or threats intended to spread terror or endanger lives; deliberate sabotage or seizure of public buildings, state institutions and public facilities; organizing or leading an armed terrorist group; and using violence to provoke sectarian strife or civil war by arming, inciting, or financing others.

The same article covers armed attacks on the army, police and security services; armed attacks on embassies, diplomatic premises and foreign or international organizations operating in Iraq; the use of explosive, incendiary, chemical, biological or radioactive materials to kill or to spread terror; and abduction or unlawful detention for political, sectarian, national, religious or material ends.

A separate provision classifies certain acts as crimes against state security, among them attempts to overthrow the constitutional system by force, armed confrontation with state forces, and instigating armed insurrection.

Penalties

Under Article 4, anyone who commits, as a primary perpetrator or accomplice, any of the terrorist acts set out in the law is subject to the death penalty. The same penalty applies to anyone who incites, plans, finances or enables such acts. Anyone who intentionally conceals a terrorist act or harbors a person who has committed one is subject to life imprisonment.

The law exempts from punishment anyone who alerts the authorities before a crime is discovered or during its planning, where the information helps arrest the perpetrators or prevent the act, and it provides a reduced, custodial sentence for those who cooperate afterward in a way that leads to other participants' arrest. Funds and materials linked to an offense are confiscated, and offenses under the law are classified as ordinary crimes of moral turpitude.

The government's timetable to place all weapons under state control runs to September 30, after which SAC said armed activity outside state authority will be handled under the anti-terrorism law.