Iraq executes 11 including an Algerian on terror charges despite global outcry

Iraqi authorities executed 11 more people on Sunday — 10 Iraqis and one Algerian — despite widespread international calls for a moratorium on Baghdad’s use of the death penalty.

• The latest executions bring to at least 113 the number of times Iraq has followed through on death sentences so far this year, according to an news agency tally, already far outpacing 2011 when 68 people were put to death.
• “Eleven persons — 10 Iraqis and one Algerian named Abdallah Ahmed Belhadi hailing from Oued Souf in south-eastern Algeria — were executed this morning because they were convicted of terrorist activities,” a justice ministry official said in Baghdad.
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• Sunday also marks the latest of several occasions that Baghdad has carried out multiple executions on a single day. On August 27, Iraq put 21 people to death in a single day.
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• The executions have sparked off calls for a moratorium from the UN assistance mission in Iraq, from Britain, the European Union and human rights group Amnesty International.
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• UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay expressed shock earlier this year at the number of executions, criticizing the lack of transparency in court proceedings and calling for an immediate suspension of the death penalty.
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• Concurrently, Algerian human rights activists and several political party representatives expressed dismay at the brutal demise of Algerian defendant Abdallah Ahmed Belhadi and hit out in statements to Echorouk against these executions in Iraq as contrary to international humanitarian laws and conventions