Speaking to reporters, Saleh said that the 7-member committee has been formed and 70 Iranian prisoners held in Iraqi Kurdistan Region will be handed over Iran in the near future to serve the rest of their sentences in their own country.

Saleh, however, said that there was no certain date for the exchange of the inmates due to remaining work needed to be done, Mehr news agency reported.

The Kurdish official added that 40 Iranians are imprisoned in Erbil, the capital of the region, while 30 other are held in Sulaimani province waiting to be exchanged.

Abdullah Saleh further added that the exchange will not include political prisoners but only prisoners who have no private plaintiffs, and those who are willing to be handed over to Iran.

He went on to say that as many as 5 Iraqi Kurds are imprisoned in Iran that the Kurdistan Regional Government had asked for their handover in exchange for the Iranian prisoners. The Kurdish officials have handed over a formal request to the Iranian side.

It is worth mentioning that General Director of Kurdistan Region’s Social Reform Ahmed Najmadin said during a press conference on Sunday that the KRG handed over 100 prisoners to Iran last year.

Najmadin said during the conference that Iranian authorities had also handed over 10 prisoners to the region.

Reporter’s code: 50101