Coronavirus infects 27 inmates at a Sulaimani prison: minister
The 27 affected inmates at the Sulaimani Adult Reform Directorate are in a "stable condition" and "have not shown any severe symptoms," minister Kwestan Mohammed said.
Asked how the virus had entered the facilities, Mohammed told Rudaw English that it came from five employees who had contracted the virus outside the prison.
The minister's announcement marks the first confirmation of COVID-19 cases among inmates in Sulaimani, the province so far hardest-hit by the pandemic.
A woman at the Erbil Women and Juveniles Reform Directorate was the first to be confirmed to have contracted the virus, Ziya Petros, head of the Kurdistan Region-based Independent Board of Human Rights (IBHR) told Rudaw last month.
Human rights organizations have warned since the onset of the COVID-19 outbreak that overcrowded prisons worldwide, including in the Kurdistan Region, could become breeding grounds for the virus.
Governments all over the world have since granted early or temporary release to inmates detained or charged with non-violent crimes.
Petros warned last month that the Kurdistan Region's jails could foster widespread COVID-19 outbreaks unless the KRG drastically cut the prison population.
"The situation of the prisons of the Kurdistan Region is terrible. If a swift solution is not found, we will witness a catastrophe," he said.
The head of the Kurdistan Region's judiciary council told Rudaw English in April that 1,500 pre-trial detainees had been furloughed from Kurdistan Region - around a quarter of the Kurdistan Region's approximately 6,000 prison inmates.
Mohammed told Rudaw that a government-decreed release for prisoners was imminent.
"I have received approval from the prime minister of the KRG that within the next 10 days we will offer long-term temporary release for some of the inmates," Mohammed said.
She specified to Rudaw English that those to be considered for release are people who have been charged with non-violent, non-drug related crimes. Prisoners will also need to be guaranteed by two sponsors for release to be approved.
With 3,591 active cases, Sulaimani has been the Kurdistan Region province worst-hit by the coronavirus pandemic, recording over three-quarters of the Region's total cases. It has also recorded the vast majority of coronavirus-related deaths - 207 of 240, as of Sunday morning.
While the coronavirus outbreak maintains a stubborn grip on the country, the Iraqi High Commission for Human Rights called on Thursday for the government and other relevant authorities to "issue a general amnesty for those whose crimes did not violate public security and do not cause any danger to society," and to instigate stricter health measures in prisons.
Rudaw
