37 Iraqis at risk of imminent execution

On December 16 Deputy Justice Minister Busho Ibrahim said in an interview that Iraq will execute 37 people who have exhausted all legal remedies and their death sentences have been approved by the Presidential Council. He also said that Iraq has executed 257 people, including six women, since 2005. Last Monday Iraqi Interior Minister Jawad al-Bolani said that 835 people are presently on death row in Iraq.

Amnesty International and the United Nations have repeatedly called on Iraq to abolish the death penalty, to give fair trials to prisoners, and to investigate allegations of torture. UN envoy Ad Melkert said on International Human Rights day, “We would like to reiterate our universal call to refrain from carrying out the death penalty and would encourage Iraq to consider banning this instrument as a fundamental feature of applying justice in a new Iraq.” Amnesty International considers the death penalty to be a violation of the right to life and the ultimate form of cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment.

Please write to the Iraqi government asking that the authorities not proceed with the executions of the 37 people currently reported to be at imminent risk, to commute all death sentences and to declare an immediate moratorium on executions.

Send letters immediately to the Iraqi embassy, 3421 Massachusetts Avenue, NW, Washington, D.C. 20007, and address letters to His Excellency Nuri Kamil al-Maliki Prime Minister, Convention Centre (Qasr al-Ma’aridh), Baghdad, Iraq. Copies should be sent to The Minister of Justice, Judge Dara Noureddin and Minister of Human Rights, Wajdan Mikhail Salam.

Or you can take action online right now to stop the execution of Samar Sa’ad ‘Abdullah.