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Iraq
An Iraqi soldier guards 31 suspected ISIS members at the Iraqi intelligence service's headquarters in Baghdad, March 16, 2015. File photo: Ali al-Saadi / AFP
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Iraq’s president ratified more than 340 death sentences for people with terrorism and other criminal charges, state media reported on Sunday, just three days after Islamic State (ISIS) group suicide bombers killed dozens of civilians in Baghdad.
An unnamed source in President Barham Salih’s office told state media outlet Iraqi News Agency (INA) that the approvals took place after "the cases were scrutinized from all their constitutional and legal aspects," indicating that they have received the final approval needed to carry out the executions.
According to Article Four of the Iraq’s 2005 Counter-Terrorism Law, anyone found guilty of committing a terror offence is given the death sentence, with life imprisonment given to those who assist or hide those convicted of terrorism.
Rudaw English contacted Iraq’s Minister of Justice Salar Abdul Satar for further details on the cases, but was unable to reach him or his media spokesperson.
The death sentence approvals follow the deaths of 32 people in twin suicide bombings claimed by ISIS in central Baghdad’s Tayaran Square on Thursday. At least 110 others were injured in the blasts, according to Iraq's health ministry.
Human Rights Watch described the mass execution order as politically motivated, rather than a move made out of concern for justice.
"This announcement unfortunately speaks to a concern we have had for many years in Iraq that the death penalty is used as a political tool more than anything else," Belkis Wille, the watchdog's senior crisis and conflict researcher, told Rudaw English on Sunday.
"Leaders resort to announcements of mass executions, simply to signal to the public they are taking terrorism seriously, without any regards for the fact that the trials are so fundamentally flawed and often so relied on confessions extracted by torture," said Wille.
"There is no certainty within the Iraqi system that people that are getting the death penalty are guilty for the crime that they are said to have committed," she added.
Ali al-Bayati, a member of the Iraqi High Commission for Human Rights, also said he could not be sure that trials were being conducted fairly.
"The commission has not been able to ensure the transparency of these court rulings as the commission is not allowed to do its job," said the commissioner. "Most of the times we get prevented from visiting and speaking to prisoners, or overseeing their trials; therefore, It is difficult to determine the fairness of these trials and ratifications."
Bayati, however, defended Barham Saleh's ratification of the death sentences.
"The death sentence is part of Iraqi law, which must be implemented and respected," he noted.
International concern has been expressed about the trial and detention conditions of ISIS suspects in Iraq, including the use of the death penalty sentencing for both Iraqi and foreign nationals convicted of ISIS involvement, the use of violence and torture in prisons, and the overcrowding of Iraqi facilities holding ISIS suspects and their kin.
Iraqi authorities executed 42 prisoners on death row for terror offenses at Nasiriyah's Central Prison in October and November, in what seems to be "part of a larger plan to execute all prisoners on death row," the United Nations Human Rights Council reported in November.
"Iraqi courts have sentenced and tried scores of individuals for suspected affiliation with ISIS in unfair trials, often resulting in the death penalty, and in many cases sentences were based on so-called "confessions" extracted under torture," said Amnesty International.
Rudaw English reached out to Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Amnesty International on Sunday for comment on the latest death sentence ratifications.
At least 41,049 people are imprisoned in Iraq, including 22,380 convicted on terror-related charges, according to a document obtained by Rudaw on January 17th from the Ministry of Justice’s Iraqi Reform Department.
Iraq's counter-terror forces detained a number of alleged ISIS militants in multiple operations against the group in the provinces of Baghdad, Anbar, and Kirkuk on Friday.
Updated at 13:40, 14:45
An unnamed source in President Barham Salih’s office told state media outlet Iraqi News Agency (INA) that the approvals took place after "the cases were scrutinized from all their constitutional and legal aspects," indicating that they have received the final approval needed to carry out the executions.
According to Article Four of the Iraq’s 2005 Counter-Terrorism Law, anyone found guilty of committing a terror offence is given the death sentence, with life imprisonment given to those who assist or hide those convicted of terrorism.
Rudaw English contacted Iraq’s Minister of Justice Salar Abdul Satar for further details on the cases, but was unable to reach him or his media spokesperson.
The death sentence approvals follow the deaths of 32 people in twin suicide bombings claimed by ISIS in central Baghdad’s Tayaran Square on Thursday. At least 110 others were injured in the blasts, according to Iraq's health ministry.
Human Rights Watch described the mass execution order as politically motivated, rather than a move made out of concern for justice.
"This announcement unfortunately speaks to a concern we have had for many years in Iraq that the death penalty is used as a political tool more than anything else," Belkis Wille, the watchdog's senior crisis and conflict researcher, told Rudaw English on Sunday.
"Leaders resort to announcements of mass executions, simply to signal to the public they are taking terrorism seriously, without any regards for the fact that the trials are so fundamentally flawed and often so relied on confessions extracted by torture," said Wille.
"There is no certainty within the Iraqi system that people that are getting the death penalty are guilty for the crime that they are said to have committed," she added.
Ali al-Bayati, a member of the Iraqi High Commission for Human Rights, also said he could not be sure that trials were being conducted fairly.
"The commission has not been able to ensure the transparency of these court rulings as the commission is not allowed to do its job," said the commissioner. "Most of the times we get prevented from visiting and speaking to prisoners, or overseeing their trials; therefore, It is difficult to determine the fairness of these trials and ratifications."
Bayati, however, defended Barham Saleh's ratification of the death sentences.
"The death sentence is part of Iraqi law, which must be implemented and respected," he noted.
Iraqi authorities executed 42 prisoners on death row for terror offenses at Nasiriyah's Central Prison in October and November, in what seems to be "part of a larger plan to execute all prisoners on death row," the United Nations Human Rights Council reported in November.
"Iraqi courts have sentenced and tried scores of individuals for suspected affiliation with ISIS in unfair trials, often resulting in the death penalty, and in many cases sentences were based on so-called "confessions" extracted under torture," said Amnesty International.
Rudaw English reached out to Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Amnesty International on Sunday for comment on the latest death sentence ratifications.
At least 41,049 people are imprisoned in Iraq, including 22,380 convicted on terror-related charges, according to a document obtained by Rudaw on January 17th from the Ministry of Justice’s Iraqi Reform Department.
Iraq's counter-terror forces detained a number of alleged ISIS militants in multiple operations against the group in the provinces of Baghdad, Anbar, and Kirkuk on Friday.
Updated at 13:40, 14:45
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