Alarming rise in death penalty in Iraq: UN report

GENEVA, Oct 19, (KUNA): A report published on Sunday by the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) documents the alarming rise in executions carried out by Iraq since the restoration of the death penalty in 2005.

According to the report, the number of executions carried out in Iraq rose substantially between 2005 and 2009. In 2009, 124 people were executed.

“Despite a drop in the implementation rate in 2010, the number of executions significantly increased between 2011 and 2013, culminating in the hanging of 177 individuals in 2013,” the UN report said.

“Between 1 January and 30 September 2014, at least 60 people have been executed. Executions are often carried out in batches in Iraq — on one occasion in 2013, up to 34 individuals were executed in a single day.” As of August 2014, according to the Iraqi Ministry of Justice, some 1,724 prisoners are awaiting execution. This number includes those sentenced to death at first instance, those on appeal, and those awaiting implementation of their sen- tences.

“UNAMI and OHCHR have repeatedly voiced concerns about observed weaknesses of the Iraqi justice system,” the report stated. “Criminal investigations and judicial proceedings in death penalty cases frequently fail to adhere to international and constitutional guarantees of due process and fair trial standards.” In over half of the trials involving the death penalty monitored by UNAMI, judges systematically ignored claims by defendants that they were subjected to torture to induce confessions, and in the remainder of cases they took little or no action, the report said.

“In nearly all cases, judges proceeded to convict the defendants and sentence them to death based solely, or substantially, on the weight of disputed confession evidence or the testimony of secret informants. Most defendants appeared in court unrepresented, and where the court appointed an attorney, no time was granted to the defendant to prepare adequately a defense. ““The use of the death penalty in such circumstances carries the risk of grievous and irreversible miscarriages of justice since innocent people may face execu- tion for crimes they did not commit. Far from providing justice to the victims of acts of violence and terrorism and their families, miscarriages of justice merely compound the effects of the crime by potentially claiming the life of another innocent person and by undermining any real justice that the victims and families might have received.” the report stated.

Commenting on the report, Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Iraq Nickolay Mladenov expressed deep concern about the scale and extent of the use of the death penalty in Iraq.

“The large numbers of people who are sentenced to death in Iraq is alarming, especially since many of these convictions are based on questionable evidence and systemic failures in the administration of justice,” Mladenov said in a statement. “I call upon the Government of Iraq to reconsider its position on the imposition of the death penalty.” In the same statement, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Ben Al-Hussein urged the new Government in Iraq to make a commitment to address the serious shortcomings in the criminal justice system in the country.