Iraq has carried out the first executions since the demise of the Saddam Hussein regime. Three men convicted of murder were hanged on Thursday morning in Baghdad.
The Iraqi government argues that the death penalty will help to deter criminals but spokesman Laith Kubba admitted that "this is not an easy thing to do". 
Iraqi president Jalal Talabani is personally opposed to capital punishment and stated that he would never sign a death sentence, not even against Saddam Hussein himself. His deputy Adel Abdel Mehdi signed the warrant instead.
Human rights groups and the United Nations had hoped Iraq would refrain from using the death penalty against its citizens and urged the government not to carry out the sentences.
The three men, named as Bayan Ahmed Said, Ouday Dawood Salman and Dhahar Jasim Hassan were convicted of murdering three policemen in the city of Kut, Wasit province. Additional crimes include kidnapping and rape .
Share this: 






Public domain
Public domain
false
false

This page is archived, and is no longer publicly editable.
Got a correction? Add the template {{editprotected}} to the talk page along with your corrections, and it will be brought to the attention of the administrators.
Please note that due to our archival policy, we will not alter or update the content of articles that are archived, but will only accept requests to make grammatical and formatting corrections.
Note that some listed sources or external links may no longer be available online due to age.
Got a correction? Add the template {{editprotected}} to the talk page along with your corrections, and it will be brought to the attention of the administrators.
Please note that due to our archival policy, we will not alter or update the content of articles that are archived, but will only accept requests to make grammatical and formatting corrections.
First executions in post-Saddam Iraq held in Baghdad