RADICALS: INTERROGATION TO THE GOVERNMENT ON 128 IRAQIS AT RISK OF EXECUTION

April 8, 2009: the Radical parliamentarians joining the Democratic Party (PD), the first signatory being the MP Matteo Mecacci, held a parliamentary interrogation to the Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs and the President of the Council of Ministers to discover which initiatives they intend to promote to the Iraqi government to save the lives of 128 Iraqis at risk of imminent execution.
Amnesty International recently launched an appeal to save the lives of the 128, some of whom are charged with homosexuality. The Iraqi government has announced its intention to execute them in groups of 20 per week.
In the interrogation, the parliamentarians asked if the government believed in intervening so that Italy's help to Iraq is tied to the respect of the more fundamental civil and human rights.
They also asked if the government believed in urgently pressing the Iraqi authorities to adhere to the UN request for a moratorium on the death penalty.
Last February the Italian Government accepted the Pd Radical parliamentarians request for a specific clause for assuring the respect of human rights, analogous to those written by the European Union relative to its commitment to cooperation with Iraq. (Sources: Radicali.it, 08/04/2009)