Law Specialist Alleges Alarming Rate of Wrongful Death Penalty Convictions in Iraq

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – In an interview with Kurdistan 24, Amir Daami, a law specialist, announced that some of the laws in Iraq must be re-evaluated and reviewed.

“This is due to the fact that some of these laws, and implementation of them, could actually harm those people who have not committed a crime,” he said.

Daami remarked that, “It is crucial to revise the dossiers in which mostly a wrongful death sentence has been passed. This is because in some of the cases the convict is actually not guilty and has been sentenced through the accounts of secret informants.”

Such wrongful convictions have caused the citizens of Iraq to “rebel against everything, even against the law itself. Partly this is due to the wrongful implementation or not implementing the law,” he explained.

“The political and security situation of Iraq requires a revision of the law. Were it not for the gained confessions under torture, the people with death penalty sentences would have never admitted to a crime that they have not actually committed,” he emphasized.

“We have video recordings of tortures against the people in police custody and in jails in Iraq,” he revealed.

The European Union has expressed worries and concerns over the rising numbers of death penalty in Iraq. There is a chance that up to 250 convicts receive death penalty sentences.

Different human rights organizations, including the United Nations, have repeatedly expressed their concerns about the rising number of death sentences in Iraq.

Aside from their condemnation, the organizations warn that efforts by Iraqi authorities to escalate the implementation of death sentences could lead to the execution of innocent people.