Iraq
2026
- GOVERNMENT
- federal parliamentary democracy
- CONSTITUTION
- ratified on October 15, 2005 (currently under review by the Constitutional Committee and likely to be subject to a referendum in the future)
- LEGAL SYSTEM
- based on European civil law and Islamic law
- LEGISLATIVE SYSTEM
- Council of Representatives
- JUDICIAL SYSTEM
- according to the constitution, the federal judiciary includes the High Judicial Council, the Federal Supreme Court, the Federal Court of Cassation, the Public Prosecutor's Department, the Judicial Oversight Commission, and other federal courts
RELIGIONS
97% Muslims; Christian and Hindu minorities
From the country
OCTOBER 24, 2020IraqDEATH PENALTYIRAQ: SIX PEOPLE SENTENCED TO DEATH IN THE CRIME OF AL-WATHBA
The Iraqi judiciary sentenced six people to death for their involvement in Al-Wathba Square incident that sparked widespread controversy in the country, Shafaq News reported on 21 October 2020.
JUNE 22, 2020IraqDEATH PENALTYIRAQ: FORMER ISIS ‘MUFTI’ SENTENCED TO DEATH
Nineveh Criminal Court has sentenced Abu Abd al-Bari, a Sharia official and a former Mufti of ISIS in the city of Mosul to death, Iraqi sources reported on 21 June 2020.
JUNE 3, 2020IraqDEATH PENALTYIRAQ: MORE THAN 3,000 ISIS TERRORISTS ON DEATH ROW
An Iraqi security source revealed that there are more than 3000 ISIS terrorists who have been sentenced to death without carrying out the punishment, Shiawaves reported on 2nd June 2020.
- MAY 4, 2020IraqDEATH PENALTY
IRAQ: LAWMAKER CRITICIZES PRESIDENT SALIH FOR DELAY IN APPROVAL OF ISIL TERRORISTS' DEATH PENALTY
An Iraqi lawmaker criticized President Barham Salih for not approving the execution sentences of the ISIL terrorists imprisoned in Iraq, Mehr News Agency reported on 4 May 2020.
MAY 4, 2020IraqDEATH PENALTYSYRIA: EXTREMISTS KILL TEENAGER OVER ‘BLASPHEMOUS’ TEXTS ON PHONE
The Syrian Islamist militant group Hayat Tahrir al Sham (HTS) executed a 19-year-old man deported from Turkey who they say was charged with "blasphemy", however, activists claim the young man was killed over phone messages criticising the group’s leader,
MARCH 6, 2020IraqDEATH PENALTYIRAQ: ISIS RAPIST SENTENCED TO DEATH
An Iraqi court on 2nd March 2020 sentenced to death a former Islamic State militant who repeatedly raped a Yazidi captive.
FEBRUARY 11, 2020IraqDEATH PENALTYIRAQ: KRG SENTENCES TWO PKK TERRORISTS TO DEATH OVER KILLING OF TURKISH DIPLOMAT
The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) handed out the death sentence to two PKK terrorists who killed Turkish diplomat Osman Köse in the Iraqi autonomous region’s capital Irbil in July 2019, the local news outlet Rudaw reported on 10 February 2020.
FEBRUARY 10, 2020FranceDEATH PENALTYIRAQ: FRENCH JIHADISTS APPEAL TO UN TO AVOID DEATH PENALTY
Five French jihadists sentenced to death in Iraq have appealed to the UN to pressure France to bring them home, their lawyer has said, adding they were suffering inhumane treatment.
FEBRUARY 5, 2020IraqDEATH PENALTYIRAQ: 33 CHILDREN CONVICTED OF ISIS-RELATED TERRORISM IN 18 MONTH PERIOD
Nearly 400 individuals were tried in Iraqi courts between mid-2018 and late 2019 on terrorism charges for alleged affiliation to the Islamic State -including 33 minors who were found guilty, the United Nations said on 28 January 2020.
- JANUARY 1, 2020IraqDEATH PENALTY
On April 9, 2003 Saddam Hussein’s Baathist regime was overthrown by a US-led military coalition.
On April 9, 2003 Saddam Hussein’s Baathist regime was overthrown by a US-led military coalition.
- DECEMBER 2, 2019IraqDEATH PENALTY
IRAQ: COP SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR KILLING PROTESTERS
An Iraqi court sentenced a police officer to death on 1st December 2019 after convicting him of killing demonstrators, in the first such sentence in two months of deadly civil unrest.
SEPTEMBER 24, 2019IraqDEATH PENALTYIRAQ: 6 IS MILITANTS SENTENCED TO DEATH OVER 2013 CAR BOMB ATTACK
An Iraqi court on 23 September 2019 sentenced six Islamic State terrorists to death by hanging for their involvement in a deadly car bomb attack near the country’s Justice Ministry in 2013, leaving scores of people dead and wounded.