Chief justice meets new security chiefs a day after terrorism-law warning

BAGHDAD — Supreme Judicial Council President Faiq Zaidan met the heads of Iraq’s two newest security commands on Thursday, a day after the governing coalition said armed activity outside state authority after Sept. 30 would be treated under the Anti-Terrorism Law.

Zaidan met Lt. Gen. Abdul Amir al-Shammari, director of the newly created Office of the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, and separately Lt. Gen. Zaid al-Moussawi, who took over the Counter-Terrorism Service last month. He congratulated both on their appointments, according to Supreme Judicial Council statements. With Shammari he discussed “legal procedures that ensure the rule of law and support security and stability in the country,” and with Moussawi “cooperation and joint coordination between the judiciary and the Counter-Terrorism Service in a manner that achieves the rule of law.”

Zaidan attended Wednesday’s State Administration Coalition meeting that set the terrorism-law threshold, alongside Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi, the president, the parliament speaker and the Kurdistan Region president.

Zaidi has set Sept. 30, when the U.S.-led coalition mission ends, as the date for bringing all weapons under state control. Saraya al-Salam, Asaib Ahl al-Haq and the Imam Ali Battalions have moved to comply. Kataib Hezbollah, Harakat al-Nujaba and Kataib Sayyid al-Shuhada have refused, and Kataib Hezbollah said Monday it would keep and expand its arsenal.

The Office of the Commander-in-Chief was created by a July 22 order merging three security bodies, and oversees the defense and interior ministries, the intelligence and national security services, the Counter-Terrorism Service, the Popular Mobilization Forces Commission, border crossings and the Military Industrialization Authority.