Iraqi officials probe 'illegal jail'

[Barrett808]

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- The Iraqi Governing Council says it has asked authorities to investigate allegations an illegal prison is being run by a top Shiite cleric.

Moqtada al-Sadr is suspected of operating an unlawful prison in Iraq, said Safaa Al-Rasool, deputy of the Governing Council member Mowaffak al-Rubaie, who is a Shiite Muslim.

It is not clear when the request was made, but the justice and interior ministries were asked to investigate the matter.

Al-Rasool told CNN the law in Iraq allowed various Shiite clerics to have a court system that ran on the basis of their teachings and people were able to attend these courts if they chose.

But he said these Shiite groups were not authorized to operate their own prison. He said any case that might require imprisonment must be transferred to the Iraqi interior and justice ministries.

(more)

http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/01/29/sprj.nirq.prison/index.html

[SlavesandBulldozers]

1. if we are modeling their nascent democracy after our democracy

then the Iraqis will need as many prisons as they muster.