The Center for Women’s Studies, Department of Policies and Legislation at the University of Baghdad, organized a workshop titled “The Legal Status of Women’s Testimony.”
Dr. Israa Saeed discussed the extent to which Iraqi laws align with Islamic Sharia regarding women’s testimony and its legal value in evidence. The discussion covered the Iraqi Evidence Law, the Iraqi Civil Procedure Code, and the Iraqi Code of Criminal Procedure.
The key recommendations from the workshop include the court should prevent any questions directed at a woman providing testimony that might lead her to give an unintended response, the judge should dictate the witness’s statements to the court recorder (judicial assistant) using language close to the witness’s words, in a clear and understandable manner. However, specific phrases related to the case should be recorded verbatim in the minutes. Truthfulness is a crucial criterion for the court’s evaluation of testimony for evidence or refutation, regardless of the number or gender of the witnesses.