United Nations: Iraq has executed 60 people this year

Iraqi authorities have executed at least 60 people so far in 2014, a United Nations report said Sunday, expressing concern that “irreversible miscarriages of justice” were taking place in some death penalty cases. Nickolay Mladenov, the U.N. special envoy to Iraq, urged the Iraqi government to reconsider its position on the implementation of the death penalty. Mladenov said the high number of executions in Iraq is, “alarming, especially since many of these convictions are based on questionable evidence and systemic failures in the administration of justice.” In comparison, the United States, which has a population more than 10 times larger than Iraq’s, has executed 30 people so far in 2014, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.

The use of the death penalty in such circumstances carries the risk of grievous and irreversible miscarriages of justice since innocent people may face execution for crimes they did not commit.

United Nations report

World iraq