Prison directorate urges separate facility for death row inmates

ERBIL, November 30 — The Kurdistan Region’s Prisoners’ Directive has issued a call for the establishment of a special facility to house individuals with death sentences, separate from the broader system of prisons in the Kurdistan Region.

According to data from the General Directorate of Prisons, 443 individuals are on death row in the region.

Ehsan Abdulrahman Baban, the Director General of Prisons, told 964 that an official request has been submitted to the Council of Ministers, urging for a  special facility for those awaiting death sentences.

The majority of individuals facing capital punishment in the region are charged with offenses related to murder and terrorism.

In response to the issue of individuals on death row, the Kurdistan Regional Presidency formed a committee to address the matter. However, Baban declined to comment further on the committee’s proceedings.

Inmates awaiting death sentences in the region’s prisons have posed significant challenges to the system, both in terms of monthly expenses and mixing with other prisoners.

“There must be a resolution for these prisoners, either through a revision of the articles governing their sentences or through their segregation from the existing facilities,” he emphasized.

Further complicating the situation is a 15-year moratorium on capital punishment in the Kurdistan Region, casting uncertainty on inmates’ destiny.