Bribes Paid as Demand for Iraqi Passports Increases

London-based Asharq al-Awsat, a pro-Saudi independent paper, is issued daily.

Monday, 17 July, 2006

IWPR

Institute for War & Peace Reporting

Bribes Paid as Demand for Iraqi Passports Increases

London-based Asharq al-Awsat, a pro-Saudi independent paper, is issued daily.

Demand for Iraq's new passports is increasing as Iraqis try to flee due to deteriorating security. The cost of a new passport is now between 500 dollars to 700 dollars. Ahmad abdul-Ghani, a Iraqi citizen who was standing in front of a Baghdad travel agency, said, "I will pay a 1,000 dollars or even more to anyone who gets me a new passport so that I can get out of Iraq." He added, "Iraq has become a stronghold of militias, mafias, killings and abductions." General Yaseen al-Yassry, director of travel and nationality in the interior ministry, blamed guards for (taking bribes) so that passports are issued quickly. He said (the ministry's) travel directorate employees "are not involved in (speeding up) paperwork and taking bribes for issuing passports." The general said that his office issues between 750 and 900 passports daily, but the demand averages 5,000 daily.

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