Iraq
Undated picture of the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) headquarters in Baghdad. File Photo: Supreme Judicial Council
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iraq has released more than 40,000 detainees under the General Amnesty Law, the country’s highest administrative authority reported on Monday, noting that the move has saved roughly $70 million so far.
In a statement, the Supreme Judicial Council said that “new data regarding the implementation of the amended General Amnesty Law No. 27 of 2016 for the month of December [2025] shows that the total number of individuals released from prisons and detention centers under this law reached 40,275.”
The council added that “the number of those covered by the law among suspects subject to arrest or summon warrants, as well as guarantors and those convicted in absentia, reached 162,084.”
It further indicated that “the total amount of funds recovered through the implementation of the law” exceeded 86.5 billion Iraqi dinars (around $70 million).
The Iraqi parliament passed an amendment to the General Amnesty Law in January, as part of a broader legislative package that also included changes to the Personal Status Law and a property restitution law.
The amnesty law has long been a key demand of Sunni Arab political parties, who argue that post-2003 anti-terrorism laws disproportionately target their community.
The amendment notably revised the definition of “affiliation with terrorist organizations” - a change that was a key condition for Sunni Arab blocs to join the then-ruling State Administration Coalition. The amended bill went into effect in mid-February.
Following the 2014 seizure of large parts of Iraq by the Islamic State (ISIS), thousands were arrested for alleged links to the group, particularly in predominantly Sunni provinces such as Anbar, Nineveh, and Salahaddin.
According to the Iraqi justice ministry, the country has 30 prisons housing roughly 67,000 inmates, including about 1,600 foreign nationals. However, these figures do not include prisons in the Kurdistan Region or detainees held by security forces and various armed groups elsewhere in Iraq.
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