Iraq passes bill that critics say legalises child marriage

Iraq's parliament sparked outrage on Tuesday after passing a series of controversial laws, including amendments to the country's personal status law that critics fear will effectively legalise child marriage 

The changes grant Islamic courts greater control over family matters such as marriage, divorce, and inheritance.

These amendments are seen as a direct challenge to Iraq’s 1959 Personal Status Law, which standardised family law across the country and introduced protections for women.

Activists argue the new laws will erode these safeguards, potentially paving the way for the marriage of minors and diminishing women's rights within the family structure.

Iraqi law currently sets 18 as the minimum age of marriage in most cases. The changes passed Tuesday would let clerics rule according to their interpretation of Islamic law, which some interpret to allow marriage of girls in their early teens — or as young as 9 under the Jaafari school of Islamic law followed by many Shiite religious authorities in Iraq.

Proponents of the changes, which were advocated by primarily conservative Shiite lawmakers, defend them as a means to align the law with Islamic principles and reduce Western influence on Iraqi culture.

The parliament also passed a general amnesty law seen as benefiting Sunni detainees and that's also seen as giving a pass to people involved in corruption and embezzlement. The chamber also passed and a land restitution law aimed at addressing Kurdish territorial claims.

The session ended in chaos and accusations of procedural violations.

“Half of the lawmakers present in the session did not vote, which broke the legal quorum," a parliamentary official said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to comment publicly. He said that some members protested loudly and others climbed onto the parliamentary podium.

Independent legislator Noor Nafea Ali wrote on X that the laws were passed without proper voting, describing the session as a “farce.”

Also Tuesday, at least three officers, including the national security chief of the al-Tarmiyah district north of Baghdad, were killed and four others wounded in an explosion at an ammunition depot, a security official said.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief the media, said the explosion occurred as a joint force of the Iraqi army and the national security service conducted an operation following intelligence reports of the Islamic State group's activity and an ammunition cache in the area.

Story by Qassim Abdul-Zahra and Stella Martany: The Independent: