The Office of Overseas Prosecutorial Development Assistance and Training (OPDAT) is managed by the Department of Justice’s Criminal Division and primarily funded by the State Department. The focus of OPDAT’s Iraq program is assistance to the Iraqi justice sector in enhancing sustainable institutions built upon rule of law principles. Its many accomplishments and activities to date include the following:

• The OPDAT Iraq Program currently has nine Resident Legal Advisors (RLAs) working in support of the rule of law mission. Seven RLAs are deployed to Provincial Reconstruction Teams (PRTs) in Iraq provinces, with one RLA assigned to the Law and Order Task Force (LAOTF) and one assigned to the Office of the Justice Attaché at Embassy Baghdad. The RLAs work with the Embassy, the Higher Judicial Council, the Central Criminal Court of Iraq, provincial courts, and other justice sector institutions on a variety of issues related to criminal justice, rule of law, and other matters involving the delivery of justice to the citizens of Iraq.
• OPDAT personnel have facilitated the creation of Central Criminal Court panels for Mosul, Tikrit, and Kirkuk City. These panels, referred to as Major Crimes Courts, consist of both local and sometimes traveling judges from Baghdad who handle major felony cases that the traditional provincial courts have been unable to prosecute for security reasons. These Major Crimes Courts have been cited repeatedly by Iraqi provincial leaders for their positive impact on public perception of the criminal justice system.
• OPDAT supervised the investigation that led to the release of 80 illegally detained Iraqis from the Rusafa Detention Facility in Baghdad through 2008. The defendants were detained for periods ranging from one to five years, either without cause or based on confessions that were coerced. OPDAT helped prove that there were no case files or evidence to warrant their continued detention. In addition, OPDAT has assisted the operations of the Rusafa Defense Clinic, which opened on May 12, 2008. As of March 14, 2009 Iraqi defense attorneys had interviewed a total of 8063 detainees, including 42 female detainees, at the Clinic and the Rusafa 6B Women’s Prison. Since March 1, 2008, 2089 detainees have been released on amnesty.