Iraq
Foreign Nationals and the Death Penalty
Death Penalty Overview
Iraq is one of the eight out of eleven League
of Arab States to execute people. Executions
are carried out either by shooting or
hanging. Iraq retains the death penalty for
‘ordinary crimes’, despite international law
stating that the use of the death penalty
should be restricted to the most serious
crimes. Furthermore, death sentences are
often imposed in Iraq following proceedings
that do not meet international fair trial
standards (Amnesty International 2022). Iraq
voted against the most recent UNGA
resolution on a moratorium of the death
penalty in 2022.
At least 7,900 individuals are thought to be
on death row in Iraq, the majority of whom
are for terrorism-related offences, under the
Iraqi Anti-Terrorism Law no.13. This law is
cause for serious human rights concerns,
primarily due to its vague and overly-broad
de nition of ‘terrorism’.
Between 2021 and 2022, recorded
executions in Iraq fell by more than 35% (17
individuals to 11) and death sentences fell by
55% (91 to 41). Over the last decade, the
greatest increase in death sentences was
between 2017 and 2018, quadrupling from
at least 65 in 2017 to at least 271 in 2018. The
highest number of executions in the last
decade were recorded in 2013, when at least
169 individuals were thought to have been
executed (Amnesty International 2022).
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Since October 2020, a wave of executions
have been carried out at Nasiriyah Central
Prison (commonly known as al-Hoot prison).
21 individuals were executed in October
2020, and a further 21 on 16 November; part
of a plan to execute all prisoners on death
row.