Parliamentary Immunity as a Constitutional Guarantee in Parliamentary Work in Iraq and Iran

The issue of parliamentary immunity is one of the most important topics in legal studies because it is directly related to members of the legislative authority and representatives of the people in parliament, which requires a kind of freedom in expressing opinions and discussions related to their legislative work. The concept of parliamentary immunity is a privilege granted by the legislator to members of Parliament in order to perform their functions properly and without being subject to public authorities, including the judiciary. Parliamentary immunity exempts representatives from the legal burden or accountability imposed on the general public. There are two types of immunity, the first substantive, which means that a member of the House of Representatives is not responsible for the opinions and statements issued by him during the performance of his duties as a member of the House of Representatives, while procedural means that no criminal action may be taken against a member of the House of Representatives except with the permission of Parliament. The constitutions of both the Republic of Iraq and the Islamic Republic of Iran have taken substantive and procedural immunity, as the Iraqi constitution granted parliamentary immunity to members of the House of Representatives for the words and actions they make due to the performance of their duties. The deputies, as for the Iranian legislator, has limited the immunity of members of the Shura Council to the extent of the performance of parliamentary duties, provided that it does not go beyond insults and defamation. This immunity ends with the end of the parliamentary session. Granting parliamentary immunity to a member of the House of Representatives does not mean exempting him from any action he does, but there are some actions that require lifting his immunity and holding him accountable. The constitutions of Iraq and Iran have moved in this direction, whereby parliamentary immunity is lifted from the member in certain cases. There have been cases of lifting the immunity of members of the Iraqi parliament, and officials in the Iranian Shura Council have been held accountable after their immunity was lifted. We conclude from the foregoing that most constitutions, including the constitutions in question, have taken substantive and procedural immunity, but they differ in the limits of this immunity.