IRAQ. 28 CRIMINALS AND MILITANTS EXECUTED IN BASRA

April 13, 2008: Iraqi's interior ministry executed 28 criminals and militant cult members in the city of Basra, some 550 kilometres south of Baghdad, media reports said.
Abdul-Karim Khalaf, a department chief in the ministry, told the Iraqi al-Sabah newspaper that the ministry carried out the 28 verdicts issued by Iraq's central criminal court.
"The execution of such criminals is considered as a message to all criminals in Basra," Khalaf was quoted as saying in al-Sabah.
"The message says that law is above all and will not make any exceptions for any one involved in crimes."
Iraqi officials told Deutsche Presse-Agentur that the executed criminals included militants of a Shiite cult known as "Jund al- Samaa." (Sources: Earth Times, DPA, 14/04/2008)