UN concerned over Iraqi PM’s committee to speed up executions

The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al-Hussein has expressed deep concern about the Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi’s decision to form a committee tasked with making recommendations to speed up executions in Iraq.

“Given the weaknesses of the Iraqi justice system and the current environment in Iraq, I am gravely concerned that innocent people have been and may continue to be convicted and executed,” Al-Hussein said in a statement Monday.

“Fast-tracking executions will only accelerate injustice,” he said, adding that UN monitoring “has revealed a consistent failure to respect due process and fair trial standards, including a reliance on torture to extract confessions”.

The UN commissioner explained that women, children and men in Iraq are facing frequent attacks, including from Daesh.

“It becomes all too easy to permit such atrocities to stoke the fires of vengeance,” he said. “But vengeance is not justice.”

Al-Abadi ordered the formation of a committee last month to identify factors that are delaying the implementation of the death penalty and to make recommendations on how to speed up the process.