Baghdad – More than 19,000 prisoners have been released in Iraq so far this year under a new broad amnesty law that facilitates the overcrowding of prison and frees some people convicted of crimes related to terrorism, judicial authorities said on Tuesday.
The amnesty covers some people convicted of the crime of membership related to terror in the Islamic State group, which Sunni Muslims had seen how disproportionately pointing to their community. However, any person condemned by a murder in relation to charges related to terrorism is not eligible for amnesty. Other crimes covered by amnesty include corruption, theft and drug use.
The number of launches was announced after a meeting on Tuesday in Baghdad between the main judicial officials led by the head of the Judicial Supreme Coucil Faeq Zeidan to discuss the implementation of the new law, approved earlier this year.
A statement published after the meeting said that 19,381 inmates were released from prisons during the first four months of the year. He added that the total number of beneficiaries of the law, including those sentenced in the absence, those released on bail and those with pending arrest orders, reached 93,597.
Iraq prisons face an overcrowding crisis, and the Minister of Justice says earlier this month that the 31 prisons of the country have around 65,000 inmates despite having been built to have only approximately half of that number.
Thousands more detained remain in the custody of security agencies, but have not yet been transferred to the Ministry of Justice due to the lack of prison capacity.
Among the provisions of the new law adopted in January is that some people convicted of terrorism positions can request a new trial if they claim that their confessions were taken under coercion while they were detained.
The General Law of Amnesty had a strong support from Sunni legislators who argue that their community has been attacked by terrorism positions, with sometimes extracted confessions under torture.
Thousands of detainees held in the country are linked to the Islamic State Group, which was defeated in Iraq in 2017. Some former members of the extremist group were executed by their acts while controlling large parts of the country.
All executions have been arrested under the General Law of Amnesty.
Iraq has faced criticism from human rights groups for its application of the death penalty and particularly on mass executions made without prior notice to the lawyers or relatives of the prisoners.
