Excuses in the Iraqi Penal Code

Excuses are the argument and reason that justifies a person's actions. The ability to absolve oneself of guilt with an acceptable and convincing argument. Legal excuses refer to the reasons that exempt the perpetrator from punishment or mitigate it, as stipulated by the Iraqi legislator in Article 128, paragraph 1 of Penal Code No. 111 of 1969 and its amendments. Excuses may either exempt from punishment or mitigate it, with no excuse except in cases specified by the law. In other cases, an excuse would only serve to reduce the crime due to noble motives or serious provocation by the victim unjustly.

It is noteworthy that excuses are listed specifically, so the court does not have the right to interpret them independently. The legislator has clearly defined them and closed the door to interpretation. The investigation and determination of excuses fall under the court's jurisdiction, and it must apply them when they exist. These excuses are legitimate and binding in their application when all elements of the crime are present, without affecting the classification of the committed offense (felony, misdemeanor, or violation), but they influence the punishment by exemption or reduction specifically.

Paragraph 2 of the same article above requires the court to state the reasons for the excuse exempt from punishment in its judgment. It states: "The court must specify in its judgment the excuse exempt from punishment." Article 129 prohibits imposing any original, subsidiary, or complementary penalty on those exempt from punishment. Expanding the application of excuses to include other suspects in the crime is not allowed because the exemption applies only to those for whom the reason or excuse exists. In applying excuses, there are no general exemptions; they are specific to the crime itself as determined by the law to achieve a mitigating or exempting benefit that serves society, necessary and important, with no excuses beyond what is specified in the law that outweighs its benefit over punishment.

Here, we must mention several cases of excuses specified in the law:

1- Exemption in exchange for services provided by the perpetrator in disclosing the crime and apprehending the remaining suspects.

2- Exemption of the briber and intermediary from punishment for providing information to reveal other suspects in the crime of bribery as stipulated in Article 311 of the Penal Code.

3- Likewise, in crimes of conspiracy in crimes endangering internal and external state security as stipulated in Articles 55, 56, and 57, perpetrators are exempted from...And exempted the perpetrators from punishments in the second part of Article (58).

4- Crimes of counterfeiting or forging seals as stated in Article (218).

5- Reporting, damage repair, confession, diminished perception, lack of will, minority, and adolescence.

6- Legal excuses are also mentioned in Article (256) (considered a mitigating excuse when a witness recants false statements and discloses the truth in a lawsuit before a judgment is issued on its subject matter or in an investigation before an objective decision is made by the investigating authority, and if the investigation is into a crime before a decision of non-prosecution is made).

Finally, we must distinguish between mitigating excuses and mitigating reasons:

1- Mitigating excuses are explicitly stated in the law, and the judge cannot interpret them, while mitigating reasons are left for the judge to assess.

2- Investigating reasons is optional for the judge to consider or not, whereas with mitigating excuses, the judge must adhere to them.

3- Mitigating excuses lead to a change in the description of the crime, while mitigating reasons allow the judge to change the description of the crime from a felony to a misdemeanor and from a misdemeanor to a violation.