Iraq
Death penalty and prisoners' rights · Archive since 1999
Data card
- Legal status
- Retentionist
- Executions recorded in 2026
- 1
- Executions recorded in 2025
- 0
- First news item in the archive
- JANUARY 1, 1999 · In mid-January, Col
- News items in the archive
- 874
Source: Hands Off Cain database, updated to 2026.
Iraq is classified as Retentionist in the Hands Off Cain database, updated to 2026. In 2026 the association recorded 1 executions in the country, against 0 the year before. The archive holds 874 news items on Iraq, from 1999 to today.
In Iraq death sentences come largely from terrorism proceedings, often collective and concluded quickly. The method is hanging. Executions are carried out in groups, usually with no notice to the families and with announcements afterwards.
International bodies have repeatedly reported trials lacking minimum guarantees and sentences founded on confessions. The archive follows executions, sentences and requests for a stay.
Latest news
- APRIL 6, 2003IraqDEATH PENALTY
Deserters from the Iraqi army said they were beaten...
Deserters from the Iraqi army said they were beaten by their superiors and one said he saw 10 fellow soldiers executed by a commander, according to a Human Rights Watch report
- APRIL 2, 2003IraqDEATH PENALTY
"In their latest crime against the peoples of Iraq,...
"In their latest crime against the peoples of Iraq, the dictatorial Iraqi regime has shot 96 soldiers
- MARCH 31, 2003IraqDEATH PENALTY
The US State Department issued its 27th annual report...
The US State Department issued its 27th annual report on human rights conditions world-wide
- MARCH 23, 2003IraqDEATH PENALTY
Seven members of Iraq's ruling Ba'th Party were executed...
Seven members of Iraq's ruling Ba'th Party were executed on the order of President Saddam Hussein's cousin and the commander in the south, Ali Hasan al-Majid
- FEBRUARY 28, 2003IraqDEATH PENALTY
Mass executions, prisoner torture, beheadings, amputations...
Mass executions, prisoner torture, beheadings, amputations and disappearances in Iraq make up the chilling content of The death penalty and more under Saddam Hussein, a dossier compiled by Hands Off Cain released in Rome
- FEBRUARY 28, 2003IraqDEATH PENALTY
The dossier says that around 4,000 people were executed...
The dossier says that around 4,000 people were executed in the Abu Ghraib prison in the first reported prison 'cleansing' campaign in 1984
- FEBRUARY 13, 2003IraqDEATH PENALTY
British MP and Minister for Europe Denis MacShane revealed...
British MP and Minister for Europe Denis MacShane revealed that two Iraqi doctors living in the UK fled their homeland after being ordered by Saddam Hussein to help commit atrocities against his own people
- FEBRUARY 11, 2003IraqDEATH PENALTY
February 11
February 11
- FEBRUARY 11, 2003IraqDEATH PENALTY
Brayati, the Iraqi Kurdistan Democratic Party newspaper,...
Brayati, the Iraqi Kurdistan Democratic Party newspaper, reported that the regime had established execution and shooting committees at border points along Kurdish controlled areas in case soldiers should try to escape or should refuse to fight if a war br
- FEBRUARY 2, 2003IraqDEATH PENALTY
The Iraqi government abolished several penalties from...
The Iraqi government abolished several penalties from its statute books, including Decree 115 of 1994 stipulating ear amputation for army deserters and Decree No 313 of 1984 imposing capital punishment for anyone convicted of smuggling foreign currency
- JANUARY 29, 2003IraqDEATH PENALTY
Iraq denied a leading US defense official's charge...
Iraq denied a leading US defense official's charge that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein ordered the execution of any scientists seen cooperating with UN arms inspectors
- JANUARY 23, 2003IraqDEATH PENALTY
Iraq's Revolution Command Council [RCC] issued a decree...
Iraq's Revolution Command Council [RCC] issued a decree stipulating that any person who commits theft as stated in Penal Code No 11 of 1969, using weapons in wartime, shall be executed
- JANUARY 22, 2003IraqDEATH PENALTY
Six Iraqi women who said they or their families were...
Six Iraqi women who said they or their families were brutalised by Saddam Hussein's dictatorship called for the Iraqi leader to be indicted for war crimes, and said regime change was the only way to save their desperate nation
- JANUARY 1, 2003IraqDEATH PENALTY
The death penalty has been in force in the Iraqi legal...
The death penalty has been in force in the Iraqi legal system since 1921, following the foundation of the Iraqi State (1920), its field of application has been extended since the taking of power by the Baath party in 1968 and since 1979, the year marking
- DECEMBER 19, 2002IraqDEATH PENALTY
The UN General Assembly voted on a resolution condemning...
The UN General Assembly voted on a resolution condemning summary executions in Iraq
- DECEMBER 2, 2002IraqDEATH PENALTY
The British Foreign Office unveiled a 23-page human...
The British Foreign Office unveiled a 23-page human rights dossier on Iraq and Saddam Hussein entitled "the barbarity of his regime"
- NOVEMBER 8, 2002IraqDEATH PENALTY
An investigation by a UK television outfit, Channel...
An investigation by a UK television outfit, Channel 4's Dispatches team, uncovered eyewitness accounts of the execution of 15 women in a market square in the port of Basra
- NOVEMBER 6, 2002IraqDEATH PENALTY
At the Third Committee Andreas Mavrommatis, Special...
At the Third Committee Andreas Mavrommatis, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iraq, introduced his report by welcoming the recent decree of the Revolutionary Command Council signed by President Saddam Hussein on 20 October, granting a
- OCTOBER 28, 2002IraqDEATH PENALTY
Iraq has recently executed six political Iraqi prisoners...
Iraq has recently executed six political Iraqi prisoners suspected of having ties with the Iraqi opposition, a newspaper reported in Kurdish-populated northern Iraq
- OCTOBER 21, 2002IraqDEATH PENALTY
It was reported that at the beginning of October, the...
It was reported that at the beginning of October, the Iraqi authorities handed over the bodies of Colonel Ahmad Rashid al-Dulaymi and Captain Anwar Muhammad al-Bakri to their families
- OCTOBER 20, 2002IraqDEATH PENALTY
The Iraqi government announced an amnesty for all Iraqi...
The Iraqi government announced an amnesty for all Iraqi prisoners in an apparent attempt to rally domestic and international support in the face of U
- SEPTEMBER 30, 2002IraqDEATH PENALTY
An Iraqi opposition group said that 15 political dissidents...
An Iraqi opposition group said that 15 political dissidents had been executed in a prison west of Baghdad
- SEPTEMBER 25, 2002IraqDEATH PENALTY
The anti-Saddam dossier commissioned by British Prime...
The anti-Saddam dossier commissioned by British Prime Minister Tony Blair reported that approximately 4,000 people were executed at Abu Ghraib prison in 1984, 3,000 at Mahjar prison between 1993 and 1998 and about 2,500 between 1997 and 1999 in a "prison
- SEPTEMBER 9, 2002IraqDEATH PENALTY
The Regay Kurdistan newspaper reported that the human...
The Regay Kurdistan newspaper reported that the human rights office of the Iraqi Communist Party declared the deaths of 18 citizens executed by the regime
- AUGUST 30, 2002IraqDEATH PENALTY
Two Iraqis convicted of beating and stabbing to death...
Two Iraqis convicted of beating and stabbing to death an elderly Sudanese man and then stealing his money were executed in Saudi Arabia
- AUGUST 26, 2002IraqDEATH PENALTY
A report by the Herald Sun newspaper claimed that exiled...
A report by the Herald Sun newspaper claimed that exiled Palestinian terrorist Abu Nidal did not commit suicide as believed, but was executed by Iraqi president Saddam Hussein's secret police for refusing to train al-Qaeda fighters, Iraqi dissidents said
- AUGUST 19, 2002IraqDEATH PENALTY
An unclear report stated that following the US air...
An unclear report stated that following the US air force bombing of Iraqi Battalion 64 on the evenings of 18 and 19 July, the Iraqi regime arrested the officers of the battalion and had them tried at the Special Security Tribunal, under the chairmanship o
- AUGUST 12, 2002IraqDEATH PENALTY
Iraqi Communist Party newspaper Tariq al-Sha'b reported...
Iraqi Communist Party newspaper Tariq al-Sha'b reported that on 25 June, the [Iraqi] authorities handed over the bodies of three citizens, that they had executed earlier, to their families in Al-Hindiyah Administrative District and its environs
- AUGUST 6, 2002IraqDEATH PENALTY
Iraqi President Saddam Hussein ordered the release...
Iraqi President Saddam Hussein ordered the release of some prisoners to mark the 14th anniversary of the end of the Iran-Iraq war
- AUGUST 4, 2002IraqDEATH PENALTY
Saudi Arabia beheaded an Iraqi man for kidnapping a...
Saudi Arabia beheaded an Iraqi man for kidnapping a Saudi national for ransom, the Saudi Press Agency reported