ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – The United Nations has criticized Iraq’s mass execution of 38 prisoners allegedly affiliated with ISIS in the southern city of Nasiriyah, amid ongoing concerns over the use of the death penalty and due process.
“We are deeply shocked and appalled at the mass execution on Thursday of 38 men at a prison in the southern Iraqi city of Nassiriya, Iraq, which once again raises huge concerns about the use of the death penalty in the country,” said spokesperson for the UN Human Rights office Liz Throssell in a press release from Geneva on Friday.
The prisoners were convicted of terrorism-related offenses.
“Given the flaws of the Iraqi justice system, it appears extremely doubtful that strict due process and fair trial guarantees were followed in these 38 cases,” she added.
Human rights staff of the UN has repeatedly requested information in regards to the use of the death penalty over the last two years, but have yet to receive responses from either the judiciary or the Iraqi government.
The UN human rights office stated that approximately 1,200 of the 6,000 prisoners held in Nasiriyah have been sentenced to death, but has warned that the Iraqi judicial system is too flawed to allow for any executions.
However, it has learned of 106 total executions in Iraq this year alone, including the mass hanging in Nasiriyah of 42 prisoners in a single day in September.
“We can all agree that members of terrorist groups who are proven to have committed serious crimes should be held fully accountable for them,” Zeid Ra’ad al Hussein, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said in September of the 42 mass
“However, Iraq’s use of anti-terrorism legislation to impose the death penalty for a wide range of acts does not appear to meet the strict threshold of ‘most serious crimes,’” he added.
The Iraqi central government claimed that the prisoners who were executed were Iraqi nationals connected to ISIS or al-Qaeda and had been charged under anti-terrorism laws such as carrying out armed robberies, kidnapping, killing members of the security forces, or detonating Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs).
No specific trial information or names and places of residence had been released by authorities.
Hussein stated that the UN was concerned about Iraq’s lack of compliance in its international human rights obligations by imposing the death penalty.
“We once again urge the Iraqi authorities to halt all executions, establish an immediate moratorium on the use of the death penalty and carry out an urgent and comprehensive review of the criminal justice system,” spokesperson Throssell added in Friday’s press release.
Earlier in September, at the request of Iraq, the UN Security Council unanimously approved establishing a team to assist Iraq investigate ISIS crimes and hold the group accountable for war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide.
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