Rights groups slam Iraq executions

Baghdad: Two leading human rights groups on Tuesday condemned Iraq's announcement that it had carried out 22 death sentences over the past month.

Amnesty International said the latest executions brought to more than 100 the number of times capital punishment had been used in Iraq this year.

"The use of the death penalty is deplorable in all circumstances, and it is particularly horrendous when applied after grossly unfair trials marred by allegations of confessions extracted under torture as is frequently the case in Iraq," the group's Iraq researcher Diana Eltahawy said.

"In the last 10 months, there has been a steep climb in the number of people executed in Iraq, and there is even a special unit in the presidency's office to try to expedite the implementation of death sentences," Eltahawy added.

Justice Minister Haidar al-Zamili said in a statement released late Monday that the sentences were carried out "against 22 convicts condemned for crimes and terrorist acts".

Human Rights Watch also took issue with the fact that the minister explained the executions in the context of the operation launched Monday to retake the city of Fallujah from the Islamic State jihadist group.

The justice ministry statement quoted Zamili as saying that, with the start of the Fallujah battle, "we confirm... that the ministry is continuing to carry out just punishment against terrorists".

"To choose the timing of a judicial execution for political reasons flies in the face of claims to justice," HRW's Christoph Wilcke told AFP.

The UN rights office's spokesman, Rupert Colville, told reporters in Geneva that the Iraqi ministry's announcement was a cause for concern and renewed calls for a moratorium on death sentences and executions.