URGENT ACTION APPEAL
- From Amnesty International USA
----------------------------------
For a print-friendly version of this Urgent Action (PDF):
http://www.amnestyusa.org/actioncenter/actions/uaa19311.pdf
Note: Please write on behalf of these persons even though you may not have
received the original UA
when issued on 21 June 2011. Thanks!
Further information on UA: 193/11 (21 June 2011)
Issue Date: 02 November 2011
Country: Iraq
FIFTEEN MEN AT IMMINENT RISK OF EXECUTION
Fifteen men sentenced to death in Iraq in June could be executed at any time
after 6 November, which
marks the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha. Their sentences have reportedly now
been ratified by the
Iraqi presidency. The Prime Minister has the power to grant them clemency.
On 1 November, the Iraqi presidency is reported to have ratified the death
sentences imposed on 15
men, including Ibrahim Najm 'Abboud, Firas Hassan Fleih al-Juburi, Fadhel
Ibrahim al-Juburi, Haydar
Mut'eb 'Abdel-Qader, Hikmat Fadhel Ibrahim, Sayyid Hamadi Ahmed and Sofian
Jassem Mohammad. The 15
men were sentenced to death on 16 June by the Central Criminal Court of Iraq after
"confessions" by
several of them were shown on the Iraqi TV channel Al Iraqiya. The 15, said to
be members of armed
groups in Iraq, were found guilty of murdering dozens of people, including
women and children, and
the rape of women and girls, including the bride, at a wedding party in a
village near al-Taji,
north of Baghdad, in June 2006.
The 15 men may not have received a fair trial according to international
standards. The televised
"confessions" by some of the men may have been obtained through duress.
On 14 June 2011 the Chairman of the Supreme Judicial Council is reported to
have said during a press
conference that the 15 men "will be executed as soon as their death sentences
are ratified by the
Presidency." According to media reports, on 1 November the Iraqi presidency
announced that the 15
would be executed after the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha. The holiday falls on
6 November this
year.
Please write immediately in English or Arabic:
-Calling on the Iraqi authorities not to proceed with the executions of Ibrahim
Najm 'Abboud, Firas
Hassan Fleih al-Juburi, Fadhel Ibrahim al-Juburi, Haydar Mut'eb 'Abdel-Qader,
Hikmat Fadhel Ibrahim,
Sayyid Hamadi Ahmed, Sofian Jassem Mohammad and the other eight people
sentenced;
-Expressing concern that the 15 people may not have received a fair trial
according to international
standards for fair trial;
-Urging the authorities to declare an imminent moratorium on executions;
-Calling for the commutation of all death sentences of people on death row;
-Insisting that, while recognizing that governments have an obligation to bring
to justice those
responsible for serious crimes, the death penalty violates the right to life
and is the ultimate
form of cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment, and should not be applied even
for crimes of the
greatest magnitude.
PLEASE SEND APPEALS BEFORE 12 NOVEMBER 2011 TO THE IRAQI REPRESENTATION IN YOUR
COUNTRY AND
ADDRESSED TO:
Prime Minister
Nuri Kamil al-Maliki Convention Centre (Qasr al-Ma'aridh)
Baghdad,
IRAQ
Salutation: Your Excellency
President
Jalal Talabani
Convention Centre (Qasr al-Ma'aridh) Baghdad,
IRAQ
Salutation: Your Excellency
And copies to:
Minister of Human Rights
Mohammad Shayaa al-Sudani
Convention Centre (Qasr al-Ma'aridh) Baghdad,
IRAQ
Salutation: Your Excellency
Ambassador Samir Shakir Mahmood Sumaida'ie
Embassy of the Republic of Iraq
3421 Massachusetts Ave NW, Washington DC 20007
Tel: 202 742 1600 EXT 136 | Fax: 1 202 333 1129 | Email:
amboff...@iraqiembassy.org or
i...@iraqiembassy.us
Please check with the AIUSA Urgent Action Office if sending appeals after the
above date.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
The 15 men were reportedly detained for several weeks incommunicado, that is
without access to their
legal
representatives or relatives. This increases the risk of detainees being
tortured or otherwise
ill-treated, including the
risk of being coerced into making confessions. In addition, at least some –
possibly all – of the
men's families were not informed about the start of the trial, which also
raises serious concerns.
This prevented them from consulting with the defendants on the appointment of
legal representatives
of their own choosing, a right guaranteed under
international standards for fair trial. Given the grave nature of the charges
it is of particular
concern that the
defendants may not have had adequate legal representation. The trial is said to
have lasted only a
few days.
Several Iraqi government officials publicly called for the public execution of
the 15 men even
before the trial had
been completed, which jeopardized their right to a fair trial and violates the
presumption of
innocence, a
fundamental principle in criminal law.
Over the years many defendants have been sentenced to death in Iraq on the basis of
"confessions"
which they made as a result of torture in pre-trial detention, when they were
held incommunicado and
had no access to lawyers of their choosing. Some have been executed on the
basis of such
"confessions".
The death penalty has been used very extensively in Iraq. Hundreds of people
have been sentenced to
death since the death penalty was reinstated by the Iraqi government in 2004,
following a one-year
suspension by the then head of the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA), Paul
Bremer. The
government gives very little information, such as statistics, about executions.
At least 1,000
people are said to be under sentence of death. Amnesty International is opposed
to the death penalty
in all cases because it is a violation of two fundamental human rights, as laid
down in Articles 3
and 5 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: the right to life and the
right not to be
tortured or subjected to any cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment. The
organization considers the
death penalty to be the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment.
Amnesty International has repeatedly condemned human rights abuses by armed
groups in Iraq, some of
which are war crimes and crimes against humanity, including kidnapping, torture
and killing of
civilians, and continues to call for those responsible to be brought to justice.
Name(s): Ibrahim Najm 'Abboud, Firas Hassan Fleih al-Juburi, Fadhel Ibrahim
al-Juburi, Haydar Mut'eb
'Abdel-Qader, Hikmat Fadhel Ibrahim, Sayyid Hamadi Ahmed, Sofian Jassem
Mohammad and eight others
(m)
Issue(s): Death penalty, Unfair trial
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Amnesty International is a worldwide grassroots movement that promotes and
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This Urgent Action may be reposted if kept intact, including contact
information and stop action
date (if applicable). Thank you for your help with this appeal.
Urgent Action Network
Amnesty International USA
600 Pennsylvania Ave SE 5th fl
Washington DC 20003
Email: u...@aiusa.org
http://www.amnestyusa.org/uan
Phone: 202.509.8193
Fax: 202.675.8566
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END OF URGENT ACTION APPEAL
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