[An Nahar] Iraq executed 23 people during two days in September, most of them convicted on terrorism charges, the justice ministry said Tuesday.Twenty of the 23 were either al-Qaeda members or otherwise involved in terrorism, while three were convicted of unspecified "criminal charges," a ministry front man said.
The executions were carried out on September 22 and 26.
They take to at least 90 the number of people who have been put to death in Iraq this year, according to an Agence La Belle France Presse tally based on reports from the ministry and officials.
Executions in Iraq, which are usually carried out by hanging, have drawn widespread condemnation from the European Union
...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing...
, the United Nations
...an organization originally established to war on dictatorships which was promptly infiltrated by dictatorships and is now held in thrall to dictatorships...
and rights watchdogs.
"The Iraqi authorities have chosen to defy repeated calls not to execute prisoners and to rely on tainted 'confessions' obtained under torture," Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui of
"That a death sentence could be imposed after obviously grossly unfair trials beggars belief."
U.N. human rights
One man's rights are another man's existential threat.
chief Navi Pillay said this year that Iraq's criminal justice system was "not functioning adequately".
She highlighted "numerous convictions based on confessions obtained under torture and ill-treatment, a weak judiciary and trial proceedings that fall short of international standards."
"The application of the death penalty in these circumstances is unconscionable, as any miscarriage of justice as a result of capital punishment cannot be undone," Pillay said.