Uncertainty continues over the fate of 183 prisoners sentenced to death in the Federal Kurdistan region. Although Iraq is among countries where the most executions take place, there has yet to be an execution in the Kurdish region.

Lawyer Karzan Fazıl, from the Democracy Support and Human Rights Association based in Hewler stated that 183 people had been given death sentences in South Kurdistan, adding: "Although these sentences have not been carried out, there has been no change in the situation. Some people who received death sentences have been in custody for several years. Analytical decisions should be taken to resolve the lives and futures of these people."

Fazıl continued, saying that those detained were not being held in conditions that accorded with legal standards, adding: "We have, along with other human rights organisations, held meetings with the Ministry of Human Rights and the Ministry of Social Problems here in South Kurdistan, but we have not yet made any progress on this issue."

According to Amnesty International Iraq is third behind China and Iran as regards death sentences. Since the beginning of the year at least 162 people have been executed by the central government. In 2012 the death sentence was carried out on 129 prisoners. Due to rising numbers of executions in recent months the UN, Amnesty and other human rights organisations have called on the Iraqi authorities to convert death sentences into prison sentences and to stop executions.