BAGHDAD: Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi on Thursday ordered the immediate execution of hundreds of convicted terrorists on death row, in swift retaliation for Daesh’s execution of eight captives.
Abadi, who has faced charges of failing to respond in force to Daesh, ordered “the immediate punishment of terrorists condemned to death whose sentences have passed the decisive stage,” his office said, referring to convicts whose appeals have been exhausted.
No date was announced for the start of any mass hangings.
More than 300 people, including around 100 foreign women, have been condemned to death in Iraq and hundreds of others to life imprisonment for membership of Daesh, a judicial source said in April.
Most of the convicted women are Turkish or from former Soviet republics, while a Russian man and a Belgian national are also on death row.
Abadi vowed Thursday to avenge the deaths of the eight Daesh captives, a day after their bodies were found along a highway north of Baghdad.
“Our security and military forces will take forceful revenge against these terrorist cells,” he told senior military officials and ministers.
“We promise that we will kill or arrest those who committed this crime,” he said.
The corpses, found at Tel Sharaf in Salaheddin province, were decomposing and had been strapped with explosive vests, the army said.
They included six abductees who had appeared in an Daesh video with badly bruised faces. Daesh claimed they were Iraqi police officers or members of the Hashed Al-Shaabi paramilitary force which was key to the terrorists’ defeat.
In the video posted Saturday by the Amaq propaganda outlet of Daesh, the terrorists threatened to execute their captives unless Baghdad released Sunni Muslim women held in its prisons within three days.
But Abadi said autopsies indicated the captives were already dead when the recording was posted and that “the terrorists posted the video to try to dupe us.”
Iraqi security forces “will also find out who passed on information to the terrorist cell,” he pledged.
The change of tone from the prime minister came after criticism on social media of his failure to react forcefully to the grisly discovery.
Iraq declared victory over Daesh in December after expelling the terrorists from all urban centers including second city Mosul in a vast military campaign.
But the Iraqi military has kept up operations targeting mostly desert areas along the porous border with Syria.
Iraq, which has repeatedly faced criticism over the high number of death sentences handed down by its anti-terrorist courts, hanged at least 111 convicts in 2017.
Around 20,000 people were arrested in the three-year battle for Iraqi forces to evict Daesh, which had seized swathes of western and northern Iraq in 2014.
Human Rights Watch last week urged Iraq’s judiciary to deal with foreign women and children affiliated with Daesh on a case-by-case basis instead of slapping them with “one size fits all” sentences.
Since January, HRW said Iraq’s judiciary had “proceeded with rushed trials against foreigners on charges of illegal entry and membership in or assistance” to the terrorists group.
Most foreign women had been sentenced to death or life in prison and children aged nine and above to between five and 15 years in jail for taking part in violent acts, it said.
The New York-based watchdog called on Iraq “to take into account their individual circumstances and actions and give priority to prosecuting the most serious crimes while exploring alternatives for lesser ones.”
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Iraq PM orders ‘immediate’ execution of death row terrorists
Iraq PM orders ‘immediate’ execution of death row terrorists
- Iraqi Prime Minister orders the immediate execution of all convicted terrorists on death row
- It comes in swift retaliation for Daesh’s execution of eight captives
Gazans fear renewed displacement after Israeli strikes
- When her children, trembling with fear, ask where the family can go to escape Israel’s continued bombardment in southern Gaza’s Khan Yunis area, Umm Ahmed has no answer
KHAN YUNIS: When her children, trembling with fear, ask where the family can go to escape Israel’s continued bombardment in southern Gaza’s Khan Yunis area, Umm Ahmed has no answer.
In her small, devastated village near Khan Yunis city, recent Israeli drone and artillery strikes shattered the tenuous sense of peace delivered by a ceasefire that has largely held since October 10.
Residents say the strikes have targeted neighborhoods east of the so-called Yellow Line — a demarcation established under the truce between Israel and Hamas.
The Israeli military says its troops are deployed in the area in accordance with the ceasefire framework, accusing Hamas militants of “crossing the Yellow Line and carrying out terrorist activities.”
More than two years after Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel sparked a devastating war, tens of thousands of Gazans still live in tents or damaged homes in these areas, where the Israeli army maintains control and operates checkpoints.
Now, many fear being forced from their homes, compelled to move west of the Yellow Line.
“We don’t sleep at night because of fear. The bombardments in the east are relentless,” said Umm Ahmed, 40.
“My children tremble at every explosion and ask me, ‘Where can we go?’ And I have no answer.”
Her home in Bani Suheila has been completely destroyed, yet the family has stayed, pitching a tent beside the ruins.
“Staying close to our destroyed home is easier than facing the unknown,” Umm Ahmed said.
Crossing the Yellow Line to Al-Mawasi, west of Khan Yunis, is not an option for them.
There, makeshift camps stretch as far as the eye can see, housing tens of thousands of Palestinians who fled the fighting.
“There is no place left for anyone there, and not enough food or water,” Umm Ahmed said, as Gaza remains trapped in a catastrophic humanitarian crisis.
- ‘We will not leave’ -
The Israeli military blames continued threats from Hamas militants for its actions in the area.
“The IDF’s current operations in Gaza, and their deployment in the Yellow Line area in particular, are carried out to address direct threats from terrorist organizations in Gaza,” the Israeli military said in a statement to AFP.
The war in Gaza began with Hamas’s attack on Israel on October 7, 2023 that resulted in the deaths of 1,221 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.
Since the war began, more than 70,000 people have been killed in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry.
The vast majority of Gaza’s more than two million residents were displaced during the war, many multiple times.
A fragile ceasefire has been in place since October 10, though both sides regularly accuse each other of violations.
Under the truce, Israeli forces withdrew to positions east of the Yellow Line.
Earlier this month, Israeli army chief Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir described the Yellow Line as the “new border line” with Israel.
“The Yellow Line is a new border line — serving as a forward defensive line for our communities and a line of operational activity,” he said to reserve soldiers in Gaza.
For Palestinian officials, the line is seen as a tool for permanent displacement.
“The objective is to frighten residents, expel them from their areas, and force them west,” said Alaa Al-Batta, mayor of Khan Yunis, denouncing the bombardments as “violations of the ceasefire agreement.”
Mahmud Baraka, 45, from Khuzaa, east of Khan Yunis, described constant artillery fire and home demolitions in the area.
“It feels like we are still living in a war zone,” he said.
“Explosions happen as if they are right next to us. The objective of the occupation is clear: to intimidate us and drive us out, so the region is emptied.”
For now, residents feel trapped between bombardment and displacement, uncertain how long they can endure.
Despite the danger, Abdel Hamid, 70, refuses to leave his home located north of Khan Yunis, where he lives with his five children.
“We will not leave... this is our land,” he said.
“Moving would not be a solution, but yet another tragedy.”
In her small, devastated village near Khan Yunis city, recent Israeli drone and artillery strikes shattered the tenuous sense of peace delivered by a ceasefire that has largely held since October 10.
Residents say the strikes have targeted neighborhoods east of the so-called Yellow Line — a demarcation established under the truce between Israel and Hamas.
The Israeli military says its troops are deployed in the area in accordance with the ceasefire framework, accusing Hamas militants of “crossing the Yellow Line and carrying out terrorist activities.”
More than two years after Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel sparked a devastating war, tens of thousands of Gazans still live in tents or damaged homes in these areas, where the Israeli army maintains control and operates checkpoints.
Now, many fear being forced from their homes, compelled to move west of the Yellow Line.
“We don’t sleep at night because of fear. The bombardments in the east are relentless,” said Umm Ahmed, 40.
“My children tremble at every explosion and ask me, ‘Where can we go?’ And I have no answer.”
Her home in Bani Suheila has been completely destroyed, yet the family has stayed, pitching a tent beside the ruins.
“Staying close to our destroyed home is easier than facing the unknown,” Umm Ahmed said.
Crossing the Yellow Line to Al-Mawasi, west of Khan Yunis, is not an option for them.
There, makeshift camps stretch as far as the eye can see, housing tens of thousands of Palestinians who fled the fighting.
“There is no place left for anyone there, and not enough food or water,” Umm Ahmed said, as Gaza remains trapped in a catastrophic humanitarian crisis.
- ‘We will not leave’ -
The Israeli military blames continued threats from Hamas militants for its actions in the area.
“The IDF’s current operations in Gaza, and their deployment in the Yellow Line area in particular, are carried out to address direct threats from terrorist organizations in Gaza,” the Israeli military said in a statement to AFP.
The war in Gaza began with Hamas’s attack on Israel on October 7, 2023 that resulted in the deaths of 1,221 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.
Since the war began, more than 70,000 people have been killed in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry.
The vast majority of Gaza’s more than two million residents were displaced during the war, many multiple times.
A fragile ceasefire has been in place since October 10, though both sides regularly accuse each other of violations.
Under the truce, Israeli forces withdrew to positions east of the Yellow Line.
Earlier this month, Israeli army chief Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir described the Yellow Line as the “new border line” with Israel.
“The Yellow Line is a new border line — serving as a forward defensive line for our communities and a line of operational activity,” he said to reserve soldiers in Gaza.
For Palestinian officials, the line is seen as a tool for permanent displacement.
“The objective is to frighten residents, expel them from their areas, and force them west,” said Alaa Al-Batta, mayor of Khan Yunis, denouncing the bombardments as “violations of the ceasefire agreement.”
Mahmud Baraka, 45, from Khuzaa, east of Khan Yunis, described constant artillery fire and home demolitions in the area.
“It feels like we are still living in a war zone,” he said.
“Explosions happen as if they are right next to us. The objective of the occupation is clear: to intimidate us and drive us out, so the region is emptied.”
For now, residents feel trapped between bombardment and displacement, uncertain how long they can endure.
Despite the danger, Abdel Hamid, 70, refuses to leave his home located north of Khan Yunis, where he lives with his five children.
“We will not leave... this is our land,” he said.
“Moving would not be a solution, but yet another tragedy.”
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