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Iraqi Presidency to Asharq Al-Awsat: More Than 7,000 Prisoners Released in a Year

The Minister of Justice speaks to an Iraqi prisoner in a prison in Baghdad in early March. (government media)
The Minister of Justice speaks to an Iraqi prisoner in a prison in Baghdad in early March. (government media)
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Iraqi Presidency to Asharq Al-Awsat: More Than 7,000 Prisoners Released in a Year

The Minister of Justice speaks to an Iraqi prisoner in a prison in Baghdad in early March. (government media)
The Minister of Justice speaks to an Iraqi prisoner in a prison in Baghdad in early March. (government media)

A senior official in the Iraqi presidential office said on Thursday that President Abdul Latif Rashid “contributed to the release of 7,894 prisoners and detainees within one year.”
In October 2022, the Iraqi president launched an initiative to address the issue of the delayed release of prisoners, in cooperation with the Ministries of Justice and Interior, the National Security Advisory, and the Judicial Supervision Service.
According to official information, the initiative has established an “electronic system” to facilitate the exchange of information between various institutions and departments, to follow up on the files of convicts before their release date to verify that they are not wanted in other cases.
The head of the Advisory Board of the Presidency of the Republic, Ali Al-Shukri, told Asharq Al-Awsat: “The electronic mechanism accelerated the release of 7,894 prisoners and detainees within one year, in the first step of its kind at the level of the Presidency of the Republic since 2003.”
Last week, Rashid discussed the conditions of prisoners and detainees in Iraq with Sarah Sanbar, responsible for the Iraq file at Human Rights Watch, and stressed that his country “is committed to the standards of implementing human rights, especially in prisons, improving the conditions of detainees and inmates, and providing legal and administrative procedures to resolve their situation.”
He added that the presidency was working closely with the Ministry of Justice and the relevant security authorities in order to expedite legal mechanisms.
Human Rights Watch had strongly criticized the Iraqi authorities in 2019, as a result of the “severe overcrowding in prisons and the degrading conditions of prisoners.”
For many years, prison inmates in Iraq have been suffering from delayed release after the completion of their sentences, due to administrative procedures, which continue to lead to severe overcrowding in jails and detention centers.
An official source in the Iraqi Ministry of Justice acknowledged the delay in the release of prisoners for various reasons, as well as the overcrowding in the majority of prisons.
The source told Asharq Al-Awsat: “About 64,000 prisoners, excluding those detained in the prisons and parking lots of the Ministry of Interior, have been sentenced in various cases ranging from terrorism, drugs, and other crimes,” noting that the existing 14 prisons could not accommodate this number.
The source expected that overcrowding in prisons would be addressed by the end of 2025, if the construction of new buildings in different regions across the country is completed.

 

 

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At Least 25 Killed as Russian, Syrian Jets Intensify Bombing of Syrian Opposition Territory

An ambulance rushes to the scene of a Syrian regime airforce strike that targeted a neighborhood in Syria's opposition-held northern city of Idlib on December 1, 2024.(Photo by MUHAMMAD HAJ KADOUR / AFP)
An ambulance rushes to the scene of a Syrian regime airforce strike that targeted a neighborhood in Syria's opposition-held northern city of Idlib on December 1, 2024.(Photo by MUHAMMAD HAJ KADOUR / AFP)
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At Least 25 Killed as Russian, Syrian Jets Intensify Bombing of Syrian Opposition Territory

An ambulance rushes to the scene of a Syrian regime airforce strike that targeted a neighborhood in Syria's opposition-held northern city of Idlib on December 1, 2024.(Photo by MUHAMMAD HAJ KADOUR / AFP)
An ambulance rushes to the scene of a Syrian regime airforce strike that targeted a neighborhood in Syria's opposition-held northern city of Idlib on December 1, 2024.(Photo by MUHAMMAD HAJ KADOUR / AFP)

At least 25 people were killed in northwestern Syria in air strikes carried out by the Syrian government and Russia, the Syrian opposition-run rescue service known as the White Helmets said early on Monday.
Russian and Syrian jets struck the opposition-held city of Idlib in northern Syria on Sunday, military sources said, as President Bashar al-Assad vowed to crush insurgents who had swept into the city of Aleppo.
The army also said it had recaptured several towns that opposition factions had overrun in recent days.
Residents said one attack hit a crowded residential area in the center of Idlib, the largest city in an opposition enclave near the Turkish border where around four million people live in makeshift tents and dwellings.
At least seven people were killed and dozens injured, according to rescuers at the scene. The Syrian army and its ally Russia say they target the hideouts of insurgent groups and deny attacking civilians.
Ten children were among the dead in the air strikes in and around Idlib and other targets in opposition-held territory near Aleppo on Sunday, according to the White Helmets.
The total death toll from Syrian and Russian strikes since Nov. 27 had climbed to 56, including 20 children, the group added in a statement on X.
The insurgents are a coalition of Türkiye-backed mainstream secular armed groups along with Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, a group that has been designated a terrorist outfit by the US, Russia, Türkiye and other states.
The insurgents seized control of all of Idlib province in recent days, the boldest opposition assault for years in a civil war where front lines had largely been frozen since 2020.
Insurgents also swept into the city of Aleppo, east of Idlib, on Friday night, forcing the army to redeploy.
In remarks published on state media, Assad said: "Terrorists only know the language of force and it is the language we will crush them with".
The Syrian army said dozens of its soldiers had been killed in the fighting in Aleppo.
Russian war bloggers reported on Sunday that Moscow had dismissed Sergei Kisel, the general in charge of its forces in Syria, after insurgents swept into Aleppo. Reuters has requested comment from the Russian defense ministry.
In a joint statement, the United States, France, Germany, and Britain urged "de-escalation by all parties and the protection of civilians and infrastructure to prevent further displacement and disruption of humanitarian access".
LEAVING ALEPPO
Inside Aleppo city, streets were mostly empty and many shops were closed on Sunday as scared residents stayed at home. There was still a heavy flow of civilians leaving the city, witnesses and residents said.
Opposition fighters waving the opposition flag drove through the city, Yusuf Khatib, a resident, told Reuters by phone. Some of the opposition took up positions on street intersections, he added.
Ahmad Tutenji, a merchant in the affluent New Aleppo neighborhood, said he was surprised how quickly the army left. "I am shocked at how they fled and abandoned us."
Abdullah al Halabi, a pensioner whose neighborhood was bombed near the central area of Qasr al Baladi, said people were terrified they would see a repeat of the Russian-led bombing that killed thousands of people before driving out the opposition a decade ago.
Syrian troops who had withdrawn from the city were now regrouping and reinforcements were also being sent to help in the counter-attack, army sources said.
Aleppo had been firmly held by the government since a 2016 victory there, one of the war's major turning points, when Russian-backed Syrian forces besieged and laid waste to opposition-held eastern areas of what had been the country's largest city.
The opposition said on Sunday they had pushed further south of Aleppo city and captured the town of Khansir in an attempt to cut the army's main supply route to Aleppo city.
Opposition sources said they had also captured Sheikh Najjar estate, one of the country's major industrial zones.
Reuters could not independently confirm the battlefield accounts.
The war, which has killed hundreds of thousands of people and displaced many millions, has ground on since 2011 with no formal end. Most heavy fighting halted years ago after Iran-backed militias and Russian air power helped Assad win control of all major cities.
A lack of that manpower contributed to the speedy retreat of Syrian army forces in recent days, according to two army sources.
The opposition gains came after Israel stepped up its strikes on Iranian bases in Syria and Iran-backed Hezbollah forces in Lebanon. Militias allied to Iran, led by Hezbollah, have had a strong presence in the Aleppo area.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi, visiting Damascus on Sunday, said the situation in Syria was "difficult" but the Assad government would prevail.