The Right to Freedom of Opinion: a Comparative Study Between Iraqi Law and Islamic Law

This study sought to know what the right to freedom of opinion is, to clarify the right to freedom of opinion in Iraqi law and Islamic law, to clarify the most important controls for freedom of opinion in Iraqi law and Islamic law, and to define the most important legal guarantees for freedom of opinion in Iraqi law and Islamic law.

The study is based on the following hypotheses, which state that the right to freedom of opinion is one of the constitutional rights provided by the Iraqi legislator in the valid 2005 constitution, and this acquired right must not exceed the restrictions imposed on it, which limit its scope, taking into account the premise of this right in Tolerant Islamic Sharia.

The study reached a set of conclusions, including: It is found many violations and crimes related to freedom of expression, despite the presence of many controls and guarantees to protect this right, whether in Iraqi law or Islamic Sharia, which advocated and ensured the exercise of this freedom, but the practice of actions that violate it proves a failure. These controls are in finding the necessary protection to limit violations, as the mere provision of them is not sufficient to refrain from committing a certain behavior. In addition, there must be a determination of the criminal responsibility of the violators of this freedom.

This study suggested many proposals to address violations of freedom of opinion, the most important of which is: the state ratification of many international conventions whose rules include protection of freedom of expression of opinion and taking the necessary measures to protect it from acts that violates it by implementing its provisions and imposing strict penal sanctions on each of it is subjected to that freedom, as the lack of a text on the punishment to be applied is considered a defect, rather a serious weakness in those agreements, which necessitated the treatment of this case.