CTS deployment follows inmate protest at Iraq’s Al-Hillah prison – Shafaq News

Shafaq
News- Babil

A Counter
Terrorism Service (CTS) force arrived in Babil from Baghdad on Friday, while
security personnel searched the old Al-Hillah Correctional Prison for Men ahead
of the transfer of several inmates to facilities outside the province, sources
told Shafaq News.

Inmates at
the prison staged a protest on August 12 that lasted about an hour before Babil
Police Chief intervened. The government subsequently ordered an investigative
committee to examine the circumstances surrounding the protest and the inmates’
demands, according to the sources.

Babil
Police said the deployment of CTS forces and other security units near the
prison was part of routine inspections at detention facilities under directives
from the commander-in-chief of the armed forces.

Meanwhile,
the Iraqi High Commission for Human Rights in Babil criticized the handling of
the protest, citing “a lack of experience and judgment in dispersing such
incidents.” It also pointed to possible complicity or negligence by some
employees in allowing prohibited items into the prison and said “the facility
lacked equipment and conditions required under Iraq’s inmate rehabilitation
law.”

The
commission renewed its call to permanently close Al-Hillah Central Prison and
transfer all inmates to modern correctional facilities operated by the Justice
Ministry. The prison, built in the 1930s, “is deteriorating and at risk of
collapse,” while its location amid residential neighbourhoods in central
Al-Hillah poses security risks and complicates the use of modern
communications-jamming systems.

Read more: Iraqi prisons overcrowded, plagued by diseases, drugs, and torture, report finds