IRAQ PLANNING TO HANG UP TO 126 WOMEN BY YEAR'S END

November 18, 2009: Iraq is planning to execute up to 126 women by the end of this year.
At least 9 may be hanged within the next two weeks. Human rights groups say the only crime committed by many of these women was to serve in the government of Saddam Hussein.
Others, according to human rights groups like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, were convicted of common crimes based on confessions that were the result of torture.
At least nine women are in imminent danger of execution, as Iraq’s Presidential Council has ratified their death sentences.
The authorities have transferred a number of women to the 5th section of Baghdad's al-Kadhimiya Prison, which is where condemned prisoners are held immediately before they are executed. (Sources: Seattle Post, 18/11/2009)