ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - Iraq’s justice minister on Monday announced the release of more than 9,000 prisoners under the General Amnesty Law, which took effect in mid-February. 

“More than 9,200 prisoners have been released under the amnesty law,” Justice Minister Khalid Shwani said in a televised interview, adding that 60,000 inmates remain in the ministry’s facilities. 

He lauded the legislation’s implementation as a step that has contributed to reducing prison overcrowding in the country, “from 300 percent to 132 percent.” 

Passed in late January, the law was among the main demands of the Sunni component to join the ruling State Administration Coalition and back Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani. It entered implementation in February after being published in the Official Gazette. 

The law redefines the concept of affiliation to terrorism, specifically for thousands of Sunnis who were arrested during the battle against the Islamic State (ISIS) when the jihadists seized large parts of Iraqi land in 2014. 

Human rights watchdogs have long criticized the “inhumane” conditions inside Iraqi prisons, citing severe overcrowding, outdated facilities, and weak public prosecution oversight.

In early September, Iraq’s Supreme Judicial Council announced that over 33,000 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.”