Iraq hangs 10 men convicted of ‘terrorism’, Security sources say

BAGHDAD (AFP): Iraqi authorities on Monday hanged 10 people convicted of “terrorism”, security and health sources said.

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 execution decrees must be signed by the president.

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.

Iraq has been criticised for the trials, with the “terrorism” offence carrying the death penalty regardless of whether the defendant had been an active fighter.

Rights groups have also warned that confessions were sometimes believed to have been obtained under torture.

On May 31, Iraq executed eight people convicted of “terrorism”, the third such group put to death in the country in little over a month.

Eleven people were hanged on April 22 and another such group on May 6, security and health sources said.