ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – The European Union (EU) condemned on Thursday Iraq’s mass execution of 21 terror convicts in Nasiriyah, saying Baghdad needs to push for “consistent policy” banning capital punishment.
“The European Union considers the death penalty a cruel and inhumane punishment, which fails to act as a deterrent to crime,” read the statement from the European External Action Service.
The death penalty “represents an unacceptable denial of human dignity and integrity while any miscarriages of justice are irreversible,” it added.
The EU called on Iraqi authorities to push towards “consistent policy” to repeal capital punishment in the country and “refrain from any future executions”.
Iraq executed 21 men on terrorism charges under 2005 counter-terrorism legislation earlier this week. There was no further information given on the prisoners or their crimes.
Amnesty International on Tuesday called the executions “an outrage.”
“It is high time the Iraqi authorities put an end to executing people,” said Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa, Lynn Maalouf.
“At a time when the authorities are pressing ahead to close the chapter of the conflict with IS, they should ensure they are not doing so by perpetuating the sort of actions that have been highlighted as the seeds of previous cycles of violence – which yesterday’s tragic execution is a stark example of,” she added.
Iraq imposed more than 100 death penalties in 2019, according to data by Amnesty International, doubling the number of more than 52 executions in 2018.
It ranked fourth in 2019 among countries that carry out death penalties.
Under Iraqi law, the death penalty is imposed on a number of crimes, including rape, kidnapping, crimes against security and state institutions, acts of terrorism, drug trafficking, prostitution and “aggravated” murder.
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet said reports of the executions were “deeply troubling,“ adding that “the people of Iraq, including the victims of serious human rights violations and abuses, deserve justice.”
The High Commissioner also called on Iraqi authorities “to halt any further executions” and expressed her concern for the hundreds of remaining prisoners who “may be at imminent risk of execution in Iraq.”
The death penalty in Iraq was suspended by the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) in 2003, but was re-introduced two years later by the Iraqi Government.
International concern has been expressed about trial and detention conditions for Islamic State (ISIS) suspects in Iraq, including the use of death penalty sentencing for both Iraqi and foreign nationals convicted of ISIS involvement, the use of violence and torture in prisons, and the overcrowding of Iraqi facilities holding ISIS suspects and their kin.
