The Iraqi parliament decided on Thursday to postpone voting on a law concerning the freedom of expression, gatherings and peaceful protest.
Abdel Al Malik Husseini, spokesman for the speaker of the Iraqi parliament, said, "The postponement came at the request of the legal, human rights, security and defence, culture and information, endowments and religious affairs committees.
“The vote has been postponed until further notice. It’s still unclear when voting will resume, but what I can say is that it will be very soon,” said Mr Husseini.
If passed the bill will require “authorisations for public gatherings to be issued five days ahead of the said gathering by the head of the administrative section”.
Article 7 of the bill requests that “the application for public gathering must include the subject and purpose of the meeting, time and location as well as the names of the members of the organising committee”.
