Iraq hangs 10 terrorism convicts

• Published On: 22 July 2024 at 18:34

Iraq executed ten "terror" offenders on Monday, officials said, the fourth such execution in three months, prompting a rights group to urge for the death penalty to be abolished.

In recent years, courts have sentenced hundreds of Iraqis to death or life in jail for "terrorism," in cases that human rights groups have condemned as rushed.

Terrorism and murder are capital crimes in Iraq, and execution orders must be issued by the president.

According to a health official, ten Iraqis "convicted of terrorism crimes and being members of the Islamic State group were executed by hanging" at Al-Hut jail in the southern city of Nasiriyah.


A security source verified the executions.

They were executed under Article 4 of the anti-terrorism statute, and their remains were delivered to the health department, a health official told AFP.

Because of the sensitive nature of the subject, the sources spoke on the condition of anonymity.


Al-Hut is an infamous prison in Nasiriyah whose Arabic name means "the whale" because Iraqis think anyone imprisoned there will never be released alive.

Iraq has faced criticism for the trials, with the "terrorism" offence carrying the death penalty regardless of whether the person was an active fighter.

On May 31, Iraq hanged eight persons who had been convicted of "terrorism". On April 22, 11 people were hanged, while another group was executed on May 6, according to security and health sources.

In June, UN experts stated that they were "alarmed by the high number of publicly reported executions since 2016, nearly 400, including 30 this year."

"When arbitrary executions are widespread and systematic, they may constitute crimes against humanity," stated the special rapporteurs, who included an expert on extrajudicial, summary, or arbitrary executions.

They further stated that according to government data, there are 8,000 convicts on death row in Iraq.

The experts asked Iraqi authorities to suspend all executions.


They were particularly "horrified" by the large number of reported deaths in Nasiriyah jail as a result of "torture and deplorable conditions".

The experts chosen by the UN Human Rights Council do not speak on behalf of the United Nations.

Rights groups have also criticised the procedures as hurried, saying that confessions were sometimes obtained through torture.

"Despite national and international outcry, Iraq's continued use of the death penalty means we may be on the verge of a human catastrophe unfolding on its death row," said Razaw Salihy, Amnesty International's Iraq researcher.

She stated that Iraqi rulers "must halt executions immediately to address the gross injustices that landed thousands on death row and the horrendous conditions they languish in" .

In 2014, the IS organisation overran significant swaths of Iraq and adjacent Syria, declaring a "caliphate" and unleashing terror.

It was defeated in Iraq in 2017 by Iraqi forces backed by a US-led military coalition, and in 2019, it lost the final land it controlled in Syria to US-backed Kurdish forces.