BAGHDAD – Iraq executed six people Thursday despite calls for a moratorium, a justice ministry official said, bringing the number of people put to death this year to at least 102.
One of the six was among 23 inmates who were recaptured after a prison breakout in Tikrit last week, according to the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Of the 102 prisoners who escaped from the jail north of Baghdad, 47 had been sentenced to death as members of Al-Qaeda front group, the Islamic State of Iraq, the interior ministry said at the time.
Executions this year have already far outstripped 2011, when Iraq put 68 people to death.
On August 27, Iraq executed 21 people in a single day.
The executions have sparked calls for a moratorium from the UN assistance mission in Iraq, from Britain, the European Union and human rights group Amnesty International.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay expressed shock earlier this year at the number of executions, criticising the lack of transparency in court proceedings and calling for an immediate suspension of the death penalty.
Meanwhile, an Iraqi court has sentenced an American citizen to life in prison on charges of assisting Al-Qaeda and financing terrorist activities in Iraq, according to a government statement.
The interior ministry said Omar Rashad Khalil, 53, was recruited by Al-Qaeda in Iraq in 2005. Khalil, an architectural engineer, is of Palestinian descent and entered Iraq in 2001, the ministry statement said.
The ministry released excerpts from a confession it said Khalil made in which he admitted to receiving money from a Syrian man in the United Arab Emirates to pay for terror attacks. Also known as Abu Mohammed, Khalil was sentenced by Baghdad’s central criminal court Wednesday. Iraqi government officials could not immediately be reached for more details Thursday.
A spokesman for the US Embassy in Baghdad, Frank J. Finver, said embassy officials were aware of the reports and were checking them. He declined immediate comment. – Agencies
