Capital punishment in Iraq

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Capital punishment in Iraq was commonly used by the government of Saddam Hussein.

After the invasion of Iraq in 2003, the U.S. administrator, L. Paul Bremer, suspended capital punishment, declaring that "the former regime used certain provisions of the penal code as a means of oppression, in violation of internationally acknowledged human rights."

In May 2005, capital punishment was reinstated in Iraq. Iraqi law states that no person over the age of 70 can be executed.^[1] There is an automatic right to appeal on all such sentences. Iraqi Law requires execution within 30 days of all legal avenues being exhausted. The last legal step, before the execution proceeds, is for the condemned to be handed a red card. This is completed by an official of the court with details of the judgment and a notice that execution is imminent.^[2]

Hanging was used under the regime of Saddam Hussein^[3], but was suspended along with capital punishment in 2003 when the United States invaded and overthrew the previous regime. The death penalty was reinstated in May 2005.

In September 2005, three murderers were the first people to be executed since the restoration. Then on March 9, 2006, an official of Iraq's Supreme Judicial Council confirmed that Iraqi authorities had executed the first insurgents by hanging.^[4]

27 people, including one woman, were executed by the Iraqi government on September 6, 2006, for high crimes against civilians.^[5]

[edit] Execution of Saddam Hussein

Main article: Execution of Saddam Hussein

Saddam Hussein was sentenced to death by hanging for crimes against humanity^[6] on November 5, 2006, and was executed on December 30, 2006 at approximately 6:00 a.m. local time. During the drop there was an audible crack indicating that his neck was broken, a successful example of a long drop hanging.^[7]

By contrast, Barzan Ibrahim, the head of the Mukhabarat, Saddam's security agency, and Awad Hamed al-Bandar, former chief judge, were executed on January 15, 2007, also by the long drop method, but Barzan was decapitated by the rope at the end of his fall indicating that the drop was too long.^[8]

Also, former vice-president Taha Yassin Ramadan had been sentenced to life in prison on November 5, 2006, but the sentence was changed to death by hanging on February 12, 2007.^[9] He was the fourth and final man to be executed for the 1982 crimes against humanity on March 20, 2007. This time, the execution went smoothly and without obvious mistake or problem.^[10]

[edit] References