Iraq's parliament on Saturday passed a controversial law on reinstatement of former Saddam's Baath Party members to government jobs.

The parliament passed the Accountability and Justice bill to replace the de-Baathification law, which banned Saddam's supporters from participating in the public life in the country after the collapse of Saddam's regime by a U.S.-led coalition in 2003.

The bill, which was considered by Washington as vital to give a push to the reconciliation efforts in war-torn country, was passed unanimously by 143 lawmakers who attended the Saturday's session of the 270-member parliament.

The new law will form a seven-member committee to replace the former controversial De-Baathification Committee, which was tasked to purge Baath members from the government jobs.

The new committee will oversee the process of rehabilitating the former party members and providing pensions to some senior members who are still banned from public life within the new law.

The law has been pending before the parliament since March because Shiite members of parliament, particularly those who are loyal to the radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, rejected the return of Baathists to public life.

(Xinhua News Agency January 13, 2008)