Death penalty/fear of imminent execution

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URGENT ACTION APPEAL

24 May 2006
UA 145/06 Death penalty/fear of imminent execution

IRAQ Shihab Ahmad Khalaf (m)
'Abdullah Hana Hermaz Kelanah (m)


The two men named above have been sentenced to death for
"terrorist" offences. Their sentences have been sent to the
Iraqi Presidential Council for ratification, and they are
in imminent danger of execution. At least one of them
allegedly confessed under torture.

The Iraqi authorities executed 13 people on 9 March,
reportedly for "terrorist activities".

Shihab Ahmad Khalaf, who had been a Colonel in the Iraqi
army while Saddam Hussein was in power, was arrested on 30
January 2005 by US and Iraqi forces at the al-Sabereen
mosque in the northern city of Mosul. A number of other
people suspected of involvement in "terrorist acts" were
reportedly arrested with him. The second man, 'Abdullah
Hana Hermaz Kelanah, is believed to have been arrested at
the same time. Both were accused of being leading figures
in a terrorist group.

During interrogation Shihab Ahmad Khalaf was reportedly
beaten with cables and forced to confess to being a leading
member of a terrorist group. His confession was broadcast
on the program Terrorism in the Grip of Justice by the TV
channel al-Iraqiyya. In the program it was alleged that he
was a leading figure in a terrorist group, and had spent
some time at a training camp in Afghanistan and Pakistan,
including the whole of the year 2001. During that time,
however, Shihab Ahmad Khalaf had reportedly been living in
the Netherlands, where he and his family had been granted
asylum. They had fled Iraq just before the 1991 Gulf War,
and returned in October 2003 and settled in Mosul.

Shihab Ahmad Khalaf was brought before an investigative
judge in the capital, Baghdad, in March 2005. He denied the
charges and said that he had confessed under duress. The
judge reportedly ordered further investigation into the
case: at the end of that month Shihab Ahmad Khalaf was
brought before the same judge, who asked him to sign a
confession. He was not allowed to consult with lawyers
until the end of September 2005; his first court hearing
was due to take place on 11 October. The hearing was
postponed several times and eventually took place on 23
November. It only lasted 45 minutes, and ended with the
Iraqi Central Criminal Court sentencing Shihab Ahmad Khalaf
and 'Abdullah Hana Hermaz Kelanah to death under Article
194 of Iraq's 1969 Penal Code. The charges against the two
men included "threatening security and stability, formation
of armed groups and using cars for the purpose of bomb
attacks". During the court session Shihab Ahmad Khalaf
reportedly told the judge that he had confessed after the
investigator threatened to assault his wife and tortured
him into reading a scripted confession on the TV program
broadcast by al-Iraqiyya. His lawyers reportedly presented
documents proving that he had been in the Netherlands
during the whole of 2001. The judge, however, reportedly
refused to accept the documents, or to consider a request
by the lawyers to seek help from the Iraqi Foreign Affairs
Ministry to confirm that Shihab Ahmad Khalaf had been in
the Netherlands in 2001. The case was referred to the Court
of Cassation, which considers appeals only on limited
grounds, including procedural irregularities at trial and
mistaken interpretation of the law. The Court upheld the
death sentences, and passed them to the Presidential
Council for ratification.


BACKGROUND INFORMATION
The interim government of Iraq reinstated the death penalty
in August 2004, for crimes such as murder, drug trafficking
and kidnapping. They justified this as a response to the
deteriorating security situation. Before he was selected as
President in April 2005, Jalal Talabani had declared that
he was opposed to the use of the death penalty, in
interviews with national and international media.

Executions had been frequent during the government of
Saddam Hussein, which was overthrown by the invasion of the
US-led coalition in March 2003. After the invasion the
country was first run by the Coalition Provisional
Authority (CPA), which suspended the death penalty in June
2003. On 28 June 2004 the CPA handed over power to an Iraqi
interim government.

Since the re-imposition of the death penalty scores of
people have been sentenced to death. The first executions
were carried out on 1 September 2005, when three people
were executed.

RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as
quickly as possible:
- expressing concern that Shihab Ahmad Khalaf and 'Abdullah
Hana Hermaz Kelanah are facing imminent execution;
- expressing concern that Shihab Ahmad Khalaf appears to
have been convicted on the basis of confessions extracted
under torture and that the court reportedly refused to
consider important documents presented by his lawyers;
- urging the authorities to have the two men retried in
accordance with international standards for fair trial,
without recourse to the death penalty;
- calling on the authorities to commute all death
sentences, and abolish the death penalty in law and
practice.


APPEALS TO:

PLEASE NOTE: Fax numbers and e-mail addresses for the Iraqi
authorities are not available. Please send appeals via the
Iraqi embassy in the United States, asking them to forward
your appeals and copies:

Iraqi Embassy:
Saeed Shehab Ahmed
Head of Mission
Embassy of the Republic of Iraq
1801 P St. NW
Washington DC 20036
Phone: [phone] ext 108
Fax: [phone]
Email: [e-mail]


APPEALS TO:

President of the Republic of Iraq
Jalal Talabani
Salutation: Your Excellency

Prime Minister and Acting Minister of Interior of the
Republic of Iraq
Nuri Kamil al-Maliki
Salutation: Your Excellency

Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Iraq
Hoshyar Zebari
Salutation: Your Excellency


COPIES TO:

Human Rights Minister
Wajdan Mikhail
Salutation: Dear Minister



Please send appeals immediately. Check with the AIUSA
Urgent Action office between 9:00 am and 6:00 pm, Eastern
Time, weekdays only, if sending appeals after 5 July 2006.


Amnesty International is a worldwide grassroots movement
that promotes and defends human rights.

Urgent Action Network
Amnesty International USA
600 Pennsylvania Ave SE 5th fl
Washington DC 20003
Email: [e-mail]
www.amnestyusa.org/urgent/
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]

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