Iraq’s systematic executions based on torture-tainted confessions may constitute crime against humanity

Death row prisoners are subjected to severe psychological pain and suffering due to the uncertainty about their execution dates.

The Government of Iraq’s systematic execution of prisoners sentenced to death based on confessions obtained through torture, under an ambiguous counterterrorism law, amounts to arbitrary deprivation of life under international law and may constitute a crime against humanity, according to human rights experts.

“We are alarmed by the high number of executions publicly reported since 2016, nearly four hundred in total, including 30 this year, and the explicit political commitment to continue implementing death sentences, in total disregard to the reported irregularities in the administration of justice, cases of enforced disappearances, and torture-tainted confessions, which led to these unfair sentences,” said the UN Special Rapporteurs.

With an official record of 8,000 prisoners on death row in Iraq, the experts stated that when arbitrary executions occur on a widespread and systematic basis, they may amount to crimes against humanity, implicating any official involved in such acts, directly or by acquiescence.

Retentionist states like Iraq are not exempt from their obligations under international law, which restricts the application of the death penalty to the “most serious crimes,” meaning intentional killing.

“We insist that most of the crimes detailed in articles (2) and (3) of the Counterterrorism Law No.13 of 2005, which are being used to sentence individuals to death, fail to meet the threshold of ‘most serious crimes,’ rendering these executions arbitrary in nature,” the experts explained. “The alleged political use of death sentences, mainly against Sunni Iraqi males, is deeply troubling.”

Death row prisoners are subjected to severe psychological pain and suffering due to the uncertainty about their execution dates. Additionally, they are reportedly tortured and endure other forms of ill-treatment in the notorious al-Nasiriyah prison, including lack of access to adequate food and clean drinking water. They are also denied medical care for serious and infectious diseases, leading to premature deaths in custody.

“We are horrified by the scores of reported deaths in al-Nasiriyah prison due to torture and deplorable conditions of detention,” the experts stated. “We remind the Government of Iraq of its responsibility for prisoners’ deaths, under international law, until such responsibility is refuted through a thorough and impartial investigation, in compliance with relevant international standards, as manifested in the Minnesota Protocol on the Investigation of Potentially Unlawful Death (2016).”

The experts urged the Iraqi Government to immediately halt all executions, ensure a fair retrial for prisoners on death row, particularly those accused of terrorism-related offenses, and promptly initiate thorough and impartial investigations into all allegations of enforced disappearances, torture, and ill-treatment, in accordance with international standards. The results of such investigations must be made publicly available.

The experts have communicated their concerns to the Government and expressed their willingness to collaborate with the Iraqi authorities to end these violations, bring perpetrators to justice, and provide reparation to victims and their families.