BAGHDAD, Feb 1: The United States-backed interim leadership of Iraq will on Tuesday begin drafting a transitional law to regulate government from July 2004 to December 2005.

Mohsen Abdul Hamid, the leader of the Iraqi Islamic Party, close to the Muslim Brotherhood, on Sunday took over the rotating presidency of the 25-member Governing Council.

The presidency of the council, appointed in July, rotates every month. In January, it was held by Adnan Pachachi. Council spokesman Mohieddin Al Khatib said the body would resume work on Tuesday, after the Eidul Azha holiday.

"We will then congratulate the new president," he said. On Saturday, a leading member of the council, Abdul Aziz Al Hakim, said the body will "begin on Tuesday studying a draft of the fundamental law."

Under the Nov 15 agreement between the Governing Council and the US-led coalition, the law should be completed before the end of February. The agreement says the law should be drafted in close cooperation with the coalition and should guarantee freedom of speech and belief, and equal rights regardless of sex, religion and ethnicity.

It should affirm the independence of the judicial system, arrangements for a federal state and civilian control over the armed forces. Clerics have demanded that it mention Islam as the state religion. The law cannot be modified during the transitional period. -AFP