ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - Iraq’s Supreme Judicial Council announced Wednesday that around 28,000 inmates have been released under the General Amnesty Law over four months after it went into effect.
"The total number of people released from prisons and detention centers under this law reached 27,974,” the judiciary said in a statement on Wednesday.
The statement detailed that another 119,315 individuals who had arrest warrants and were convicted in absentia have been granted amnesty per the law.
Iraq’s Supreme Judicial Council holds the final say when it comes to the release of prisoners, according to the justice ministry. The ministry’s role is only to make sure that the inmates are not wanted for their involvement in other cases before granting them release.
There are reportedly over 60,000 inmates across 30 Iraqi prisons. The capacity of the facilities is around 25,000.
Iraq’s justice ministry has previously complained that prison overcrowding has reached 300 percent of the actual capacity.
The Iraqi parliament passed the General Amnesty Law in late January. The law was published in the Official Gazette nearly a month later, commencing its legal implementation.
The law was among the main requests of the Sunni component upon the election of Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani.
The law redefines the concept of affiliation to terrorism, through which the cases of many in Iraq will become easier to resolve. The law could save the lives of scores of innocent people from the country’s prisons, but could also lead to the release of the guilty, too, if not implemented properly.
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