“The Billion-Year Chapter” Pushes Iraqi Tribes to Identify “Facebook Sheikhs” and Parliament Interve

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[size=52]“The Billion-Year Chapter” Pushes Iraqi Tribes to Identify “Facebook Sheikhs” and Parliament Intervenes Legislatively[/size]

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2024-08-09
The phenomenon of tribal “billion-dollar chapters” has recently sparked widespread controversy over its crossing of the “red lines” in the amounts required by these councils, whose affairs are resolved away from the authorities. While “genuine” tribal sheikhs complain about “Facebook and shop sheikhs” who promote these chapters (blood money), and call for the religious authority and the Iraqi state to intervene, representatives confirm the parliament’s intention to discuss a draft law to prevent the exploitation of people in the name of “tribal chapters.”[/size]
[size=45]Video clips circulated on social media sites have been circulating, demanding from tribal sheikhs sums amounting to billions of dinars as compensation for cases experienced by the tribe, which it says has been harmed according to the tribal concept, such as murders and other cases.[/size]
[size=45]Tribal arbitration in Iraq is a judgment, compensation, or fine issued through customary tribal negotiations to resolve disputes between disputants without resorting to state law, and this is considered a type of mediation.[/size]
[size=45]Sheikhs (Facebook)[/size]
[size=45]In this regard, Sheikh Shia Al-Bahadli, the general sheikh of the Al-Bahadli tribe in Iraq, said in an interview that “the current tribal chapters (blood money) are not pleasing to God, the religious authority, or to the true original sheikhs (general),” indicating that “the weakness of the state has made the tribal chapters reach this level. There are incidents such as murder and others, in which innocent people who have nothing to do with the matter are included in the lawsuits following complaints from the family of the victim, and then matters are subject to tribal bargaining to release these people, also for a financial consideration.”[/size]
[size=45]Sheikh Al-Bahadli explains that “there is no such thing as billions in tribal chapters, but rather just as a media talk, and tribal chapters end with reasonable amounts such as 100-150 million dinars, and we always call on tribal sheikhs not to talk about such numbers, especially since they are not real numbers and were not applied in any previous tribal chapter,” noting that there are exceptions according to the type of cases and losses that reach 450 million dinars, and these are not general cases, but rather special and very few.”[/size]
[size=45]Sheikh Al-Bahadli adds, “In Iraq, laws and customs impose the payment of tribal blood money, but it is also necessary to pay an almost similar amount in order to legally drop the case before the state. Here, the matter is considered impossible, because sometimes the complainant does not drop his case despite receiving the tribal blood money.”[/size]
[size=45]The general sheikh of the Al-Bahadel tribe asks the religious authority to “determine the amounts of tribal chapters in Iraq through the media and determine the method of dealing with individuals, whether they are killers or not, and the state must cooperate with us in dealing with the non-killer by not imprisoning or sentencing him, and dealing with the perpetrator only.”[/size]
[size=45]Sheikh Shia Al-Bahadli explains that “some of the new tribal sheikhs are Facebook sheikhs who have no experience and attend tribal chapter councils just for the sake of filming and media. We suffer from them and we ask the Supreme Judicial Council to cooperate with us to deal with these phenomena that are alien to our society. The tribal sheikhs must reconsider the current reality of the Iraqi tribe, and the religious authority and the Iraqi state must intervene to limit the negative phenomena in this regard because the current situation of the Iraqi tribes and what is being exported to the media is miserable and tiring.”[/size]
[size=45]Shopkeepers and Lexus[/size]
[size=45]Sheikh Adham Al-Sora Miri, a tribal sheikh of one of the Kurdish tribes in Iraq, agrees with Sheikh Al-Bahadli, saying, “The astronomical figures mentioned in the tribal chapters have no basis and were fabricated by those called (sheikhs) who falsely claim to be sheikhs. They are sheikhs of interests, and we call them sheikhs of shops. These figures that are mentioned are made after special agreements between some sheikhs, and only 10% of the original amount agreed upon in the tribal chapter reaches the concerned party, and the rest is distributed to others who sit in these sessions.”[/size]
[size=45]Sheikh Adham added that “the financial situation of some of the new sheikhs has changed and they now have new cars (Lexus) and new buildings and houses and they make a living from these things,” indicating that “as an example of this, in one of the tribal chapters the amount of blood money was 500 million dinars, but what reached the family of the deceased was only 150 or 200 million, and I do not know where the remaining 300 million dinars went.”[/size]
[size=45]He added, “There are specific conditions for tribal separation that are known and defined and are known to the tribal sheikhs, and the maximum separation for deliberate murder reaches 120 million dinars,” indicating that “some of these (new) sheikhs take the agreed upon legal blood money, but they return again to request additional amounts that reach 50 million dinars for the purpose of the (blood guardian) dropping his legal claim.”[/size]
[size=45]Al-Sura Miri continues, “Some of these sheikhs, after the invalid and forbidden tribal chapters, now have the latest model cars, trade in property, provoke others, and carry out tribal attacks.”[/size]
[size=45]Between the former regime and the current parties[/size]
[size=45]Sheikh Adham points out that “the agreement between the former regime (Saddam Hussein) and the current parties is to increase negative tribal cases,” indicating that “the former regime president Saddam Hussein, after the events of 1991, used to receive the tribal leaders and divide them into three categories: the general sheikh category, which is called category (A), the sheikh of the clan category (B), and the face, which is symbolized by the symbol (C), which did not exist in our society, as we only knew the general sheikh and the sheikh of the clan. Now, every political party has a tribal office in every district and street under the name of the so-and-so tribal office, and they issue them ID cards for 25 or 50 thousand dinars, and thus these parties have contributed to the destruction of Iraqi society through these actions.”[/size]
[size=45]Sheikh Al-Sura Miri calls for activating the Tribal Affairs Directorate linked to the Ministry of Interior and proving this through official documents that prove tribal and Iraqi affiliation and identity,” calling on the Council of Ministers and the Ministry of Interior to intervene to limit the phenomenon of exaggerated tribal chapters.”[/size]
[size=45]Tribal bench[/size]
[size=45]Sheikh Al-Bahadli calls for “implementing other measures in the (tribal assault) file, including withdrawing the weapon of the person or persons who carried out the assault and keeping it exclusively with the state, and a fine of two million or more and imprisonment of no less than a month to discipline those who carry out these acts,” indicating that “his tribe has taken its own special measure, which is to hold legal and tribal responsibility for every person from my tribe who resorts to tribal assault without permission and we hand over his weapon to the state. However, if a person from the tribe attacks us, we take his weapon and hand it over to the state as well. We personally handed over weapons to the state more than 5 times in the presence of security leaders, and thus we witnessed a decrease in the case of tribal assault.”[/size]
[size=45]“Al-Daga” is the Iraqi term for the term “daqqa,” which means attacking someone in colloquial language. In Iraq, it has become associated with tribes and their internal conflicts, and means that a group from a certain tribe throws bombs and bullets at the house of someone from the opposing tribe to warn him of what will happen if an agreement is not reached that satisfies the threatening tribe.[/size]
[size=45]The whole truth is “incomplete”[/size]
[size=45]Sheikh Ahmed Abdul Zahra Kabashi Al-Sudani, the general sheikh of the Al-Bu Dhahi tribe of the Sudan tribe, said in an interview that “the nature of Iraqi society generally tends toward a tribal character, as it is dominated by social customs and traditions with their inherited characteristics. At the same time, the pioneering role played by Iraqi tribes in various eras cannot be denied, most notably the 1920 Revolution and the establishment of the modern state of Iraq that resulted from it. The tribes also played a major role in preserving the country’s security and combating the forces of terrorist darkness, especially the terrorist organization ISIS in 2014.”[/size]
[size=45]“However, despite this, there is an equation known to everyone, which is that when the state system weakens, the tribal system strengthens and vice versa. This is what this equation has been throughout the history of contemporary Iraq. Despite the fact that many cases have been noted that represented a violation of the authentic tribal rules, the reformist role played by the tribes cannot be denied, especially in reconciling people and resolving disputes and other cases that are considered a positive indicator to be credited to them,” the Sudanese sheikh added.[/size]
[size=45]The Sheikh continues, “What is being presented in the media about the issue of tribal chapters is not a complete truth because the focus is on the beginning of the discussion and the final result of this discussion is disregarded. Therefore, all that can be said is that the issue of tribal chapters is not limited to the southern tribes only, but rather occurs in all regions of Iraq. It can be said that the issue of tribal chapters is repeated every day, whether or not what has helped spread and become widespread in society is the culture of society, which has come to resort to the tribe in every small and large matter without resorting to the laws of the state.”[/size]
[size=45]Sheikh Ahmed Kabashi Al-Sudani identifies the necessity of confronting negative cases in tribal conflicts by saying that “it is necessary to develop solutions and treatments that prevent the negative spread of the issue of tribal chapters by combining the efforts of religious men to prohibit reckless tribal behaviors and spread cultural awareness in society about the dangers of tribal conflicts and work to restore the citizen’s confidence in the state and its laws and the necessity of holding accountable those who exploit the name of the tribe negatively for the purpose of imposing their will or terrorizing others, whether they are ordinary citizens or state officials. This is what we have witnessed at the present time, as the current government has worked to diagnose the wrong practices that some people take in the name of the tribe (such as attacking others with weapons) and including them in Article 4 of Terrorism. This has led to strengthening the citizen’s confidence in the state and the law and decreasing the intensity of tribal conflicts.”[/size]
[size=45]Parliament enters the line[/size]
[size=45]MP for the Parliamentary Tribal Committee, Nahal Al-Shammari, said in an interview that “in the absence of law and state, the tribes have taken the lead,” indicating that “some of those who claim tribal sheikhdom have become busy causing problems and collecting (blood money) for the tribal chapters.”[/size]
[size=45]MP Al-Shammari, who belongs to one of the well-known Iraqi tribes, added, “In the past, the tribe used to solve problems, but now some of its leaders are unfortunately causing these problems.”[/size]
[size=45]The MP explained that “the Parliamentary Tribal Committee is discussing a draft law that limits the issue of exploiting people in the name of tribal separation and other matters related to this matter.”[/size]
[size=45]"Tribal" law is suspended[/size]
[size=45]Legal expert Ali Al-Tamimi said in an interview that “Article 45 of the Constitution, paragraph (2), made it clear that the state works to advance tribes and clans and cares for their affairs and the development of society, and the constitutional article imposes the prohibition of tribal customs that conflict with human rights.”[/size]
[size=45]Al-Tamimi added, “Since 2010, a law called the Supreme Council of Arab Clans and Tribes was supposed to be enacted to handle the affairs of the clans and discuss the issues of chapters and others, but it has not been enacted yet, and for this reason the clan chapters are subject to personal interpretations and opinions, some of which violate human rights.”[/size]
[size=45]He added, “Legislating a law in this regard has become very important to limit the high chapters, as is the case in dealing with (tribal attacks), which have legally been transformed into dealing with a terrorist crime, and for this reason it has decreased significantly.”[/size]
[size=45]Al-Tamimi explains that “the government has the ability to legislate a law and send it to Parliament for approval to determine the steps and possibility of establishing a special council for Iraqi tribes, and in my opinion this is the best solution.”[/size]
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