ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - An Iraqi criminal court sentenced a man to a seven-year imprisonment term for smuggling 28 foreign nationals inside a truck from Kirkuk province toward Baghdad, the Supreme Judicial Council announced on Wednesday.
“The man had transported them in a large truck from Kirkuk province, intending to take them to Baghdad,” according to a statement from the council.
The ruling was issued under Article 6(7) of Iraq's Anti-Human Trafficking Law No. 28 of 2012, which provides for life imprisonment in cases involving multiple victims or repeated offenses.
Salahaddin Criminal Court also invoked Article 132(2) of the Iraqi Penal Code, which allows judges to reduce life imprisonment to a fixed-term sentence when mitigating circumstances warrant leniency.
The council did not disclose the nationalities of those being smuggled, when the incident occurred, or the circumstances surrounding their transportation.
The case comes amid continued efforts by Iraqi authorities to combat human smuggling and irregular migration, particularly along routes connecting the Kurdistan Region, Kirkuk, and central Iraq.
In June, Kirkuk police told Rudaw that more than 650 foreign nationals, mostly Pakistani, Afghan, and Bangladeshi citizens, had been arrested since the beginning of 2026 for entering the province illegally.
Police spokesperson Amr Nuri said foreign nationals typically enter the Kurdistan Region through irregular routes before traveling onward to Baghdad and other central and southern provinces.
In September, security forces in the Kurdistan Region detained and deported 68 Syrian, Pakistani, and Afghan nationals who had attempted to enter through the Haji Omaran border area in Erbil's northeast bordering Iran.
The group had reportedly traveled through the United Arab Emirates before being smuggled into Iran and brought toward the Kurdistan Region's border. Women and children were among those detained, with many reportedly seeking employment in the Region.
Iraqi authorities have also stepped up measures against illegal foreign employment.
In February, spokesperson for Iraq’s Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs Hassan Khawam said Iraq had expelled 55,000 foreign workers over the preceding two years for working illegally in the country.
