Iraqi ministry says hundreds released daily under general amnesty law
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ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iraq's justice ministry said on Thursday that hundreds of people are being released across the country daily after a recently approved general amnesty law entered implementation.
'The implementation of the general amnesty law continues. Just yesterday, more than 800 beneficiaries of the law were released,' ministry spokesperson Ahmed al-Luaibi told Rudaw.
According to the ministry's statistics, there are 30 prisons in Iraq with some 67,000 inmates, 1,600 of which are foreigners.
The number excludes the Kurdistan Region's prisons and those held by security forces and different armed groups across the country.
'The process continues even during the [Eid al-Fitr] holidays,' Luaibi added, explaining that the release of prisoners is not under their jurisdiction but rather the Supreme Judicial Council's.
The general amnesty, submitted by Sunni lawmakers, amended the 2016 law's definition of affiliation with terrorist organizations. This change was a key prerequisite for Sunni blocs to agree to join the ruling State Administration Coalition. Sunnis argue that thousands from their community have been unjustly imprisoned in Shiite-dominated Iraq since 2003 over alleged terrorism links.
In mid February, the controversial law went into effect after being published in the Official Gazette of Iraq, along with two other controversial laws demanded by Shiite and Kurdish lawmakers - the personal status and land restitution laws, respectively.
The Islamic State (ISIS) seized control of vast swathes of Iraqi territory in 2014. During the liberation process, thousands of people were arrested for alleged links to the jihadist group, especially in Sunni areas like Nineveh province.
Malik Mohammed contributed to this report.
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