The United Nations on Friday harshly criticised the
mass-hanging of 38 men at a prison in southern Iraq this week, urging
Baghdad to immediately halt all executions.
Iraq on
Thursday hanged 38 jihadists belonging to the Islamic State group or
Al-Qaeda for terrorism offences at a prison in the southern city of
Nasiriyah, according to provincial authorities.
It was
the largest number of executions in Iraq on a single day since September
25, when 42 people were put to death in the same prison.
“We
are deeply shocked and appalled at the mass execution on Thursday,”
United Nations human rights office spokeswoman Liz Throssell told
reporters in Geneva.
The hangings, she warned, “once again raises huge concerns about the use of the death penalty in the country”.
The
UN had determined that all of the 38 executed prisoners were men and
had been convicted for terrorism-related crimes, but could say nothing
more about their identities, she said.
A prison source however told AFP that they were all Iraqis, but that one also held Swedish nationality.
The
executions came after Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi on Saturday
declared victory against the Islamic State group after a three-year
campaign by government forces backed by a US-led coalition to retake
territory seized by the jihadists.
The UN and rights
watchdog Amnesty International have repeatedly voiced concerns about the
use of the death penalty in Iraq, which ranks among the world's top
executioners, after China, Iran and Saudi Arabia.
“Given
the flaws of the Iraqi justice system, it appears extremely doubtful
that strict due process and fair trial guarantees were followed in these
38 cases,” Throssell warned.
“This raises the prospect of irreversible miscarriages of justice and violations of the right to life,” she said.
The UN has learned of 106 executions in Iraq so far this year, including the mass-hangings in September.
“We
once again urge the Iraqi authorities to halt all executions, establish
an immediate moratorium on the use of the death penalty and carry out
an urgent and comprehensive review of the criminal justice system,”
Throssell said.
