BAGHDAD, 22 August 2005 — The Iraqi government yesterday defended its decision to reinstate the death penalty following a United Nations appeal for Baghdad to reconsider executing three convicted felons.
“I understand the position of international organizations including the UN and Amnesty International which are against the death penalty in general,” government spokesman Leith Kubba told reporters.
“But we are faced with a reality in Iraq where people are murdering, and what we want is a sentence which punishes the hand that kills and the person who commits this crime.”
UN special envoy to Iraq Ashraf Qazi on Saturday urged the government not to go ahead with the country’s first executions since the 2003 overthrow of dictator Saddam Hussein, who himself faces charges punishable by death.
Qazi said he “deeply regrets” the decision of an Iraqi government “in the process of transition” to reinstate the death penalty.
“One should look at consolidating the right to life instead of imposing the death penalty which has a very poor recognized effect in deterring crimes,” read a statement from Qazi.
Iraqi Vice President Adel Abdel Mehdi had signed a decree on Wednesday authorizing the execution of three men sentenced to death for kidnapping policemen and raping Iraqi women.
Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, a longstanding opponent of the death penalty, had refused to sign the death warrants instead delegating the task to Mehdi.
The men, suspected members of Al-Qaeda-linked group Ansar Al-Sunnah, were sentenced in May - a verdict later approved by the Supreme Council for Justice, the highest judicial authority in Iraq.
Kubba said: “With all the respect I have for Ashraf Qazi, I think there is a consensus in Iraq that if there is no punishment, there is no security.”
The executions are due to take place in the town of Kut, 175 kilometers southeast of Baghdad, within the next few days.
It is however not known how the government intends to carry out the executions. During the Saddam regime, criminals used to be hanged, while disloyal soldiers faced the firing squad watched by other military personnel.
Human rights groups believe that the executions could set a precedent for sentencing when the high-profile trials of former regime figures, including Saddam, begin. Saddam is currently in US custody and held near Baghdad airport.
The Iraqi Special Tribunal filed charges against Saddam in late July over the 1982 killing of 143 residents of the village of Dujail, northeast of Baghdad, where he had been the target of a failed assassination bid.
Human rights group Amnesty International also condemned the execution order, saying it was concerned that dozens of death sentences had been handed out in recent weeks.
