22,380 terror convicts imprisoned in Iraq: Ministry of Justice

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — At least 41,049 people are detained in Iraqi prisons, including 22,380 convicted on terror-related charges, according to a document obtained by Rudaw on Thursday.

The document, dated from Monday, was issued by the Ministry of Justice’s Iraqi Reform Department, and includes detailed numbers of men and women sentenced for terror offences and other crimes.

According to the document, 2,159 women are imprisoned in Iraq, 950 of whom have been convicted of terror-related crimes.

The highest number of terror convicts are in Nasiriyah Central Prison and Baghdad’s Taji Prison, at 9,867 and 8,516 respectively, according to the report. 

According to Article Four of the 2005 Counter-Terrorism Law, anyone found guilty of committing a terror offence is given the death sentence, with life imprisonment given to those who assist or hide those convicted of terrorism.

Iraq has come under repeated criticism for suspected international human rights violations against prisoners, particularly in relation to prison conditions, unfair trials and executions. 

Since the arrival of the Islamic State (ISIS) to Iraq in 2014, thousands of people have been detained for suspected links to terrorist groups, including ISIS, while hundreds have been executed.

Iraqi authorities executed 42 prisoners on death row for terror offences at Nasiriyah’s Central Prison in October and November, in what seems to be "part of a larger plan to execute all prisoners on death row," the United Nations Human Rights Council reported in November.

"Iraqi courts have sentenced and tried scores of individuals for suspected affiliation with ISIS in unfair trials, often resulting in the death penalty, and in many cases sentences were based on so-called "confessions" extracted under torture," said Amnesty International.

"Trials under the Anti-Terrorism Law have been marked by alarming irregularities," UN human rights experts told Reuters in November, adding that "defendants have denied the most basic right to an adequate defense and their allegations of torture and ill-treatment during interrogations have not been investigated."