Death Penalty News

ERBIL (Kurdistan24) - Nearly four decades after the Anfal campaign left tens of thousands of Kurdish families searching for answers, Iraq's judicial process has reached another decisive moment. On Thursday, the Federal Court of Appeals upheld the death sentence imposed on Ajaj Ahmed Hardan al-Tikriti, a former Baath-era prison official convicted of genocide, crimes against humanity, sexual violence, and the murder of Kurdish detainees held at the notorious Nugra Salman prison in 1988.

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Iraq executed 13 people for "terrorist crimes" after legal proceedings, the justice ministry announced on Monday. Eleven of the individuals were convicted of exploding car bombs, killing security personnel, or kidnappings. The Ministry of Justice stated it renews its commitment to implement provisions of Iraqi law within its framework "without being affected by any side pressures." Details about the individuals executed, the courts, their trials, a timeline for alleged crimes, prosecutors and defense teams were not released. Iraq's justice system is complicated and not transparent, a Rudaw English investigative series of reports entitled 'Justice After ISIS' discovered in early 2017.  Iraq executed 111 people in 2017, according to an Amnesty International report released in March. In Nasiriya prison on December 15, 38 people were hanged after terrorism convictions. More than 19,000 were arrested an...

Masoud Barzani A Kurdish man and his 2 wives, convicted of abducting and murdering 2 schoolgirls, were hanged last week, the 1st judicial executions in the Kurdistan Region since a death penalty moratorium in 2008. The hangings were announced by District Judge Abdulrahman Zebari, who had issued the death sentences in April 2014 at a court in Duhok city. "The 3 convicts were hanged shortly after death sentences were signed by the Kurdistan President Masoud Barzani in accordance with protocol," Zebari said. The 3 offenders were convicted for the abduction and murder of 2 schoolgirls in 2011 and 2012. Apart from terrorism-related cases, no other death sentence has been carried out since 2008, because President Barzani has imposed a moratorium by refusing to sign the execution orders. The judge said the president was asked to make an exception and sign the verdicts for the 3 offenders, due to the gravity of the crime. They were hanged for the deaths o...