Ian Catlett, former CNMI House and Senate counsel, worked for the State Department as a rule of law advisor for a year or until Aug. 2009 in Iraq.
He said Iraq has a fully developed legal system that dates back to the time of the first king of the Babylonian Empire, Hammurabi, who is known for having written one of the first codes of law in recorded history — Hammurabi’s Code.
“Some people think there’s just no law there. It’s just not the case at all. It has a very fully developed legal system. It’s just that it wasn’t able to be fully become independent until recently,” he said. “They have an independent judicial system right now.”
Although a Muslim country, Iraq, or Mesopotamia in ancient history, does not practice the strict Muslim Sharia Law.
“It’s a very interesting place. It has a very long history and very long legal history, too. It’s just been through some major conflicts since 1980 that created a lot of chaos and a lot of government institutions,” Catlett told the Variety.
“They have their own code — a very extensive Iraqi law. What we were working on was developing their institutions so they can become fully functioning independent courts and agencies with the government,” said Catlett who stressed that his statements were his own and did not necessarily reflect those of the State Department.
Catlett said part of his job as a rule of law advisor — a practicing lawyer with expertise on a particular area of legal development — was to talk with different people within the Iraqi government and civilians too.
“Basically, you evaluate and then develop programs to respond to those evaluations and that means meeting a lot of different people across the Iraqi government. You come in contact with [civilians] too,” he said.
The U.S. invaded Iraq on March 20, 2003 amid reports that it possessed weapons of mass destruction, which have yet to be found.
Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein was captured nine months later in a hole in a farmhouse near Tikrit, a town about 140 miles north of the Iraqi capital Baghdad.
He was executed on Dec. 30, 2006 for crimes against humanity.
Catlett said Iraq’s legal system has improved since Saddam’s ouster.
“The courts are now more independent than they were under him,” he said.
Iraq’s legal system, which is patterned after the French law, is now embracing the U.S. justice system.
“What happened in most countries in the world was either they went down the line of civil law, which originated in France and Germany, or they did English Common Law which is the American and British common law approach. But Iraq and a bunch of other countries in that area took the civil law approach and their legal system is influenced a lot by French law which came through Egypt by way of Napoleon,” said Catlett.
“But Iraq’s modern legal system now is also influenced by the U.S. but it’s still basically a civil law country which is a different legal system,” he added.
Catlett helped develop Iraq’s new juvenile justice system.
“One of the processes I worked on was juvenile justice. I was working to get them through the system of rehabilitation. They have rehabilitation schools similar to what we would have in the U.S. These schools would be teaching them Arabic or trade like carpentry,” he said.
Catlett left the Senate as legal counsel to go on private practice.
He said he is particularly interested in taking human rights and immigration cases, even for free.
Catlett earned his international affairs bachelor’s degree from George Washington University and his law degree from the University of Southern Maine.
He took his master’s in European studies at Britain’s University of Leeds.
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