245 death sentences for drug traffickers in Iraq

Shafaq News - Baghdad

Iraq has intensified its judicial crackdown on drug trafficking, issuing a substantial number of death sentences and life imprisonments, the Ministry of Interior announced on Thursday.

In a statement, the ministry’s General Directorate for Drug Control reported that between 2023 and 2025, specialized courts under the Higher Judicial Council issued 245 death sentences to those involved in international drug trafficking. Over the same period, 955 traffickers operating within Iraq received life imprisonment sentences.

This judicial push is part of a broader effort to dismantle drug networks across the country. In the first quarter of 2025 alone, Iraqi security forces arrested 3,006 suspects on drug-related charges, securing convictions for 973 individuals.

Authorities also confiscated 2.166 tonnes of narcotics in several provinces, including 1.538 tonnes seized under the jurisdiction of the al-Rusafa Central Investigative Court in Baghdad.

Iraq’s strategic location along key trafficking routes connecting Southwest Asia, the Gulf, and Europe has increased its role as both a transit hub and a growing market for synthetic drugs.

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) has recently reported a sharp rise in regional seizures of Captagon and methamphetamine, highlighting the expanding challenges Iraq faces in controlling narcotics.