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Iraq Ramps Up the Execution Rate
The top United Nations human rights official criticized Iraq on Tuesday for carrying out a large number of executions, including 34 on a single day last week, and voiced concern about due process and the fairness of trials.My question is 'What took them so long?' Depends on who is being executed, and making sure there is some reasonable (to the average person, not to HRW) safeguards in place. Arbitrary justice is as bad as no justice. "Given the lack of transparency in court proceedings, major concerns about due process and fairness of trials, and the very wide range of offences for which the death penalty can be imposed in Iraq, it is a truly shocking figure," she added. At least 63 people are believed to have been executed since mid-November in Iraq, where the death penalty can be imposed for some 48 crimes including a number related to non-fatal crimes such as damage to public property, Pillay said. Yes, property damage like blowing up a government vehicle seconds too early, and missing the official they meant to kill. "Most disturbingly, we do not have a single report of anyone on death row being pardoned, despite the fact there are well documented cases of confessions being extracted under duress," she said. 63 works out to about 1 per day, but they just process them in batches to get a volume discount. They may get some wrong, but probably not many. Posted by: Glenmore 2012-01-24 |
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