ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - Iran has received 43 prisoners who were serving time in Kurdistan Region prisons to fulfill the remainder of their sentences back home, a top Iranian official announced Saturday.

“In line with the implementation of the agreement on the transfer of convicts between Iran and Iraq, 20 Iranians imprisoned in prisons in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq… have been transferred to the country to serve the rest of their sentences,” Iran’s deputy minister of justice for human rights and international affairs Askar Jalalian announced.

Jalalian added that 23 additional convicts were transferred back from prisons in Sulaimani province.

Iran announced in early March that they had received 130 Iranian nationals from Iraqi prisons as part of the same agreement.

Jalalian added that 180 Iranian prisoners serving time in prisons of other countries have been sent back to Iran “in the past month” per agreements with the countries.

The Iraq-Iran border runs for more than 1,600 kilometers, with its security and movements monitored by border guards on both sides.

Iraq and Iran signed a security agreement in 2023 to address Tehran’s concerns over exiled Iranian-Kurdish armed groups which have sought refuge in Iraqi and Kurdistan Region territories for decades. In September 2023, Iraq announced it has completed the disarmament of the group and moved their members away from the borders.

Iran has repeatedly stated that there are still some elements of the agreement that need to be fulfilled, but noted that both Baghdad and Erbil have been very cooperative in its implementation.

Fulfilling its obligations per the pact, the Iraqi National Security Service announced in September that they had shut down 77 military bases of the Kurdish exiled groups near Iran’s border areas, with their forces relocated to six refugee camps, including four camps in Erbil and two camps in Sulaimani.