Iraq hangs 10 convicted of terrorism

By AFP
July 23, 2024
Representational image of inmates behind jail bars. — Unsplash/File

Nasiriyah, Iraq: Iraqi authorities on Monday hanged 10 people convicted of “terrorism”, security and health sources said.

Advertisement

Courts have handed down hundreds of death and life imprisonment sentences in recent years to Iraqis convicted of “terrorism”, in trials rights groups have denounced as hasty. Under Iraqi law, terrorism and murder offences are punishable by death, and the president must sign execution decrees.

A health official said 10 Iraqis “convicted of terrorism crimes and of being members of the Islamic State group were executed by hanging” at Al-Hut prison in the southern city of Nasiriyah. A security source confirmed the executions.

They were hanged under Article 4 of the anti-terrorism law and the health department had received their bodies, the health official told AFP. The sources spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue. Al-Hut is a notorious prison in Nasiriyah whose Arabic name means “the whale”, because Iraqis believe those jailed there never walk out alive.

Advertisement