27 Iraqi and non-Iraqi nationals were proclaimed died in Nasiriyah Central Prison, also known as al-Hoot prison.
Rights sources affirmed that prisoners died in mysterious circumstances, pointing out that the prisoners’ bodies are still stuck in forensic medicine morgues.
12 out of the 27 prisoners were confirmed died over the past month, while it is still unknown when the rest died.
Calls for open investigation into the circumstances of the prisoners’ death and the serious human rights violations reported in the Hoot notorious prison have been raised.
Detention conditions in Al Nasiriyah prison remain very poor and prisoners are systematically tortured on a daily basis.
Iraqi officials have stated that around 1,200 of the estimated 6,000 prisoners held in Nasiriyah have been sentenced to death.
The prison is vastly overcrowded since it was only designed to hold 800 prisoners. The prisoners are mostly Sunni Muslims detained for political affiliation or alleged involvement in terrorism.
In February 2018, a report by the Baghdad Centre for Human Rights ranked Nasiriyah prison as the worst in Iraq for mistreatment of prisoners.