Iraqi authorities have carried out the execution of at least 21 individuals, including a woman, primarily convicted on charges related to 'terrorism,' according to three security sources on Wednesday.
This marks the highest number of executions reported in a single day in recent years in Iraq, a country that has faced criticism for its judicial processes and the extensive use of capital punishment.
An Iraqi security official informed AFP that '21 convicts, including a woman, were executed' on charges such as 'terrorism' and affiliation with the Islamic State jihadist group. The same source indicated that the executions took place at Al-Hut prison in the southeastern city of Nassiriya. Two additional sources confirmed that all those executed were Iraqi nationals.
A medical source from Dhi Qar province, where Nassiriya is the capital, stated that the forensic department had received the bodies of the executed individuals from the prison authority.
In recent years, Iraqi courts have issued hundreds of death and life sentences to individuals convicted of 'terrorism,' with rights groups criticizing these trials as being rushed.
In July, authorities executed 10 'terror' convicts in Nassiriya, prompting a rights group to advocate for the abolition of the death penalty. Similarly, in May, eight people were executed on similar charges, and another 11 were hanged earlier that month.
In late January, UN experts investigating the matter expressed 'deep concern at reports that Iraq has initiated mass executions within its prison system.' The independent experts, appointed by the UN Human Rights Council but not speaking on its behalf, referenced executions carried out at the end of last year in the Nassiriya prison.
Their statement noted that '13 male Iraqi prisoners, previously sentenced to death, were executed on 25 December 2023,' describing it as 'the largest number of convicted prisoners reportedly executed by the Iraqi authorities in one day' since November 16, 2020, when 20 individuals were executed.
