ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – Iraq’s justice ministry on Monday stated that the General Amnesty Law has contributed “significantly” to reducing overcrowding in prisons across the country, with over 33,000 inmates having been released in accordance with the legislation around seven months after its implementation.

Human rights watchdogs have long criticized the “inhumane” conditions inside Iraqi prisons, citing severe overcrowding, outdated facilities, and weak public prosecution oversight.

“The law has contributed significantly to reducing overcrowding in prisons,” Ahmed Laibi, spokesperson for the Iraqi justice ministry, told state media, adding that work is underway to establish modern judicial complexes across the country, including the construction of new correctional facilities in the provinces of Wasit, Basra, Nineveh, and Baghdad.

Additionally, the ministry is working on rehabilitating and expanding several other correctional facilities “in compliance with human rights standards,” according to the spokesperson.

Iraqi Justice Minister Khalid Shwani in June 2024 said that the country's prison population has reached 300 percent of the actual capacity, noting that they are working on addressing the crisis. The minister vowed that Iraq would have prisons with capacities that meet human rights standards by the end of 2025.

“Rehabilitation programs exist for inmates inside prisons, including sewing and blacksmithing workshops and various vocational training, with the aim of equipping them with skills that will enable them to integrate into society after their release," Laibi added.

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.

In May, Laibi told The New Region that are 65,000 prisoners in Iraqi cells distributed across 29 facilities.

Iraq’s Supreme Judicial Council in early September announced that a total of 33,536 prisoners have so far been released in implementation of the amnesty law, adding that the number of those covered by the amnesty has reached nearly 137,000, which includes “suspects against whom arrest or summons orders were issued, those on bail, and those convicted in absentia.”

A total of 1,136 inmates were released from prisons across Iraq during the month of August, according to figures from the justice ministry.