Post by CCADP on Aug 20, 2005 9:18:36 GMT -5
From RTE News
UN urges Iraq to reconsider death penalty
20 August 2005 13:54
The United Nations' special envoy urged Iraq to reconsider carrying out the first executions since the 2003 overthrow of former dictator Saddam Hussein.
Ashraf Qazi, special representative of UN secretary general Kofi Annan, 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 recognised effect in deterring crimes,' Qazi said in a statement.
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The United Nations said that Vice President Adel Abdel Mehdi had signed a decree on Wednesday authorising the execution of three men sentenced to death for kidnapping policemen and raping Iraqi women.
The men, suspected members of Al-Qaeda-linked group Ansar al-Sunna, were sentenced to death in May. A verdict later approved by the Supreme Council for Justice, the highest judicial authority in Iraq.
Qazi pointed out in his statement, released by the New York office of the UN Mission for Iraq, that the Human Rights Commission in Geneva had 'condemned the application of the death penalty' in April 2005.
The executions would be Iraq's first since capital punishment was suspended by the US-led occupation authority following the 2003 invasion.
UN urges Iraq to reconsider death penalty
20 August 2005 13:54
The United Nations' special envoy urged Iraq to reconsider carrying out the first executions since the 2003 overthrow of former dictator Saddam Hussein.
Ashraf Qazi, special representative of UN secretary general Kofi Annan, 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 recognised effect in deterring crimes,' Qazi said in a statement.
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The United Nations said that Vice President Adel Abdel Mehdi had signed a decree on Wednesday authorising the execution of three men sentenced to death for kidnapping policemen and raping Iraqi women.
The men, suspected members of Al-Qaeda-linked group Ansar al-Sunna, were sentenced to death in May. A verdict later approved by the Supreme Council for Justice, the highest judicial authority in Iraq.
Qazi pointed out in his statement, released by the New York office of the UN Mission for Iraq, that the Human Rights Commission in Geneva had 'condemned the application of the death penalty' in April 2005.
The executions would be Iraq's first since capital punishment was suspended by the US-led occupation authority following the 2003 invasion.