Iraq's parliament adopts law legalizing Shiite militias

Iraqi parliament on Nov. 26 voted to accord full legal status to government-sanctioned Shiite militias, the al-Hashd al-Shaabi or Popular Mobilization, as a "back-up and reserve" force for the military and police and empower them to "deter" security and terror threats facing the country, like the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

The legislation, supported by 208 of the chamber's 327 members, was promptly rejected by Sunni Arab politicians and lawmakers who said it was evidence of what they called the "dictatorship" of the country's Shiite majority.

"The majority does not have the right to determine the fate of everyone else," Osama al-Nujaifi, one of Iraq's three vice presidents and a senior Sunni politician, told a news conference after the vote, according to the Associated Press. "There should be genuine political inclusion. This law must be revised."

The Nov. 26 vote came despite a call by the Iraqi cabinet for withdrawing the bill for further study.

Al-Hashd al-Shaabi has been controversial, since the Shia militia has been accused in the past of committing rights violations against Sunni-Muslim populations in areas taken from ISIL, including Iraq's western city of Fallujah, according to international human rights groups and the U.N. Human Rights Commissioner.

Iraqi forces started an offensive on Oct. 17 to capture Mosul, ISIL's last major city stronghold in Iraq, with air and ground support from a U.S.-led coalition. Kurdish and Popular Mobilisation forces are supporting the offensive.

The law, tabled by the chamber's largest Shiite bloc, placed the militias under the command of Shiite Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi and gave militiamen salaries and pensions that mirror those of the military and the...