Iraq working on bill to prevent torture, says premier

ERBIL (Kurdistan24) – Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ Al-Sudani on Sunday said his government is working on preparing a draft law aimed at preventing torture and other “inhumane treatments” as rights groups continue to slam the country for its poor human rights records.

Al-Sudani’s remarks came at the second conference of the National Plan for Human Rights in Baghdad, which various government officials, including the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Coordinator for International Advocacy, attended.

In his speech, the premier highlighted several bills that his cabinet has worked on, adding it is currently devising a new draft aimed at “preventing torture and inhumane treatment”.

The conference coincides with the United Nations’ International Day of Human Rights.

Iraq has been often battered by allegations of torture, particularly during the interrogations by the security forces, Human Rights Watch and other rights groups have reported.

Iraq joined the Convention against Torture in 2011.

In an August 2018 report, the HRW detailed the accounts of torture survivors from the Iraqi Interior Ministry-run prison in Mosul province, where they experienced ill-treatment, resulting in several deaths.

The allegations have not only been leveled against the official security forces.

Militia forces, which are mostly state-sponsored, have been similarly accused of engaging in the illicit practice, particularly against Sunni residents in Western Anbar province during the anti-ISIS campaigns.