Ashraf Qazi says Iraq should be consolidating the right to life

IRAQ. UN ENVOY URGES GOVERNMENT TO COMMUTE SENTENCES OF PEOPLE ON DEATH ROW

September 23, 2006: the United Nations urged Iraq to commute all sentences of capital punishment after the northern Kurdistan region executed 10 people earlier in the week.
“The United Nations urges the government of Iraq to commute all sentences of capital punishment and to base its quest for justice on the protection and promotion of the right to life,” said Ashraf Qazi, the UN Special Representative of the Secretary General for Iraq.
In a statement, Qazi expressed “deep concern” that efforts towards ensuring human rights and fundamental freedoms could be undermined in Iraq by the fact that “over 140 persons have been sentenced to death and over 50 persons have been executed since 2004.” (Sources: AFP, 23/09/2006)