Iraq hangs 11 men convicted of terrorism, Amnesty denounces mass executions

New Delhi: Iraq’s latest mass executions have invited sharp reaction from Amnesty International. Authorities in Iraq hanged at least 11 persons who were convicted on charges of terrorism, local security officials said on Thursday.

The executions were carried out on Monday at a jail in the southern city of Nassiriya and those executed were Iraqi nationals, a prison police officer and a local security official were quoted as saying to Reuters. They were sentenced to death for joining the Islamic State militant group and participating in “terrorist actions”.

Reacting to the executions, Amnesty International has come down heavily on Iraq while flaying the execution process. It pointed out that it shows a “disturbing lack of transparency” regrading executions carried out recently in Iraq.

Iraqi law allows capital punishment for terrorist activities and murders, with execution decrees requiring the president’s consent and stamp.

A number of suspected militants have been put on trial and executed in Iraq since it defeated Islamic State members following a military campaign backed by the US in 2014-2017. The latest executions were carried out under the supervision of ministry of justice team. All 11 individuals belonged to Salahaddin province, with seven bodies returned to their respective families, a Times of India report said.

In a statement, Amnesty International called on the Iraqi authorities to stop all further executions. It said that the conviction was on “overly-broad and vague terrorism charges”.

Amnesty highlighted serious failings in Iraq’s judicial processes which deny prisoners a fair trial. Iraq’s courts have routinely accepted torture-tainted “confessions” as evidence and sentenced people to death based on those confessions, and they have routinely failed to investigate allegations of torture, Amnesty said in a statement.