Amnesty blasts Iraq execution of 13 on ‘vague’ terrorism charges

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Amnesty International on Wednesday criticized Iraqi authorities for carrying out the death sentences of 13 men on the same day, saying the prisoners were denied fair trial, and expressed concern that many others had been executed in secret.

A total of 13 prisoners were executed in Dhi Qar’s Nasiriyah central prison on Monday, and scores more have been executed since April 10, said the Amnesty report citing activists and lawyers of the death row prisoners.

“Iraq’s recent executions are alarming and disheartening. For years, a legacy of human rights violations and abuses have plagued Iraq’s justice system, landing thousands on death row after grossly unfair trials,” said Razaw Salihy, Amnesty International’s Iraq researcher.

Eleven of the men were convicted based on their alleged affiliation to the Islamic State (ISIS), while the other two were had been detained since 2008 and convicted of terrorism-related charges.

Amnesty said that the two men were tortured and forced to sign documents they were not allowed to read, which were later revealed to be confessions, according to their lawyers and relatives. The men were denied a re-trial.

“Amnesty International looked into documents issued in 2020 by the judicial committee in charge of reviewing these requests, which stated that a review of the cases could not be carried out as per the law because the casefiles had been lost,” said the report, describing the losing of the casefiles as “utterly callous and outrageous.”

The rights watchdog called on Baghdad to “immediately” establish a moratorium on executions and abolish the death penalty.

Since the rise of ISIS in 2014, thousands of people have been detained across Iraq for suspected links to terrorist groups, including ISIS, while hundreds have been executed. The United Nations has criticized Iraq’s trials of ISIS suspects, saying proceedings have not met fair trial standards and raising concerns about allegations of torture.

Iraq has often been criticized for poor prison conditions and treatment of detainees and suspects.

Access to data on executions in Iraq is limited. UN experts in January said they were “deeply concerned about the secretive nature of the implementation of the death penalty in Iraq,” after 13 men were executed on the same day in late December.

More than 8,000 are purportedly on death row in Iraq, with at least 150 at the imminent risk of execution, according to Amnesty.