Human Rights Watch: Iraqi authorities increased unlawful executions

BAGHDAD — The Human Rights Watch (HRW) stated that the Iraqi authorities carried out executions without prior notice to lawyers or family members and despite credible allegations of torture and violations of the right to a fair trial.

HRW noted that 150 prisoners in Nasiriyah Prison face the imminent death sentence without warning.

“Iraqi authorities are carrying out state-sanctioned murder on a disturbing scale,” the HRW Middle East and North Africa Director Lama Fakih stated. “Signing off on these unlawful executions will leave President Abdul Latif Rashid’s legacy stained with blood.”

The testimonies that HRW relied on showed that the Iraqi authorities have increasingly threatened prisoners on death row, as well as non-governmental groups for talking about conditions in the Nasiriyah Central Prison.

The Iraqi government does not publish official statistics on executions and would not provide them despite multiple requests.

According to AFAD, an independent group that monitors human rights abuses in Iraq, authorities executed 50 men in September alone.

In June, AFAD denounced what it called a surge in secret executions, noting that it had documented 63 executions in previous weeks that had not been announced.

In July, the Ministry of Justice denied allegations that it was carrying out secret executions, warning it would take legal action against any websites that publish “misleading news of this sort.”

In October, President Rashid denied allegations circulating on social media that he had ratified death sentences en masse.