Prime Minister of Iraq Mohammed Shia al-Sudani

IRAQ HANGS EIGHT CONVICTED OF 'TERRORISM'

June 2, 2024:

Iraq executed eight people convicted of "terrorism", a security source and health official said on May 31, 2024, the third such group put to death in the country in little over a month.
Courts have handed down hundreds of death and life sentences in recent years to Iraqis convicted of "terrorism", in trials that rights groups have denounced as hasty.
Under Iraqi law, terrorism and murder offences are punishable by death, and execution decrees must be signed by the president.
A security source said eight Iraqis "convicted of terrorism and of being members of the Islamic State group were executed by hanging" on May 30 at Al-Hut prison in the city of Nasiriyah "under the supervision of a justice ministry team".
They were hanged "under Article 4 of the anti-terrorism law", the source told AFP on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue.
A medical source said the health department had received the bodies of eight executed people.
Al-Hut is a notorious prison in Nasiriyah whose Arabic name means "the whale", because Iraqis believe that those jailed there never walk out alive.
"That these executions continue to take place is a clear signal from Iraqi authorities that all calls for halting them are falling on deaf ears," said Amnesty International's Iraq researcher Razaw Salihy.
She said executions were happening "despite evidence of years of unfair trials and human rights violations" that landed men on death row.
On May 6, Iraq hanged 11 people convicted of "terrorism", security and health sources told AFP. It was the second such group put to death since April 22.