IRAQ: THIRTEEN MEN EXECUTED IN NASIRIYAH PRISON

January 24, 2024:

Thirteen men were executed in Nasiriyah prison on December 25, 2023, the first mass execution since 21 men were executed on November 16, 2020.
The December 25 executions were carried out without regard for the basic rights of those facing the death penalty, Human Rights Watch said. An inmate at Nasiriyah prison told his lawyer that on the evening of December 24, the names of the 13 men to be executed were called out on the prison’s loudspeaker. He said that the authorities collected them from their cells then executed them in the morning. They were not allowed to call their families or their lawyers before they were executed.
Nasiriyah prison is the only prison in Iraq that carries out executions. 
Iraqis refer to Nasiriyah prison as “al hout,” or the whale, because it swallows people up and never spits them out, as people say.
Two of the men executed on December 25 were convicted for the murder of a narcotraffic police officer.
About 8,000 prisoners, most charged with terrorism offenses, are believed to be on death row in Iraq.