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
- MARCH 14, 2001IraqDEATH PENALTY
Iraqi Communist Party newspaper Tariq al-Sha'b said...
Iraqi Communist Party newspaper Tariq al-Sha'b said that "the despotic ruling clique executed 25 citizens, from various areas in Iraq, at Abu Ghurayb prison [south of Baghdad]
- MARCH 12, 2001IraqDEATH PENALTY
UN human rights expert Andreas Mavrommatis stated in...
UN human rights expert Andreas Mavrommatis stated in his 18-page report to the UN Human Rights Commission to have received credible reports of executions without trial, torture and arbitrary detention in Iraq
- MARCH 3, 2001IraqDEATH PENALTY
A Kurdish source said the military authorities in Baghdad...
A Kurdish source said the military authorities in Baghdad executed an army major-general, Tariq Sa'dun, a relative of the incumbent Interior Minister Muhammad Zimam Abd-al-Razzaq
- MARCH 1, 2001IraqDEATH PENALTY
Three officers in the Iraqi air forces, Sa'eed 'Abd...
Three officers in the Iraqi air forces, Sa'eed 'Abd al-Majid 'Abd al-Ilah, Fawzi Hamed al-'Ubaidi and Fares Ahmad al-'Alwan, were executed by firing squad
- FEBRUARY 27, 2001IraqDEATH PENALTY
The US State Department branded Iraqi President Saddam...
The US State Department branded Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's regime and the military government in Burma as some of the world's most repressive
- JANUARY 14, 2001IraqDEATH PENALTY
Authorities in Baghdad have released hundreds of prisoners...
Authorities in Baghdad have released hundreds of prisoners who were sentenced to death and life imprisonment for murder, kidnapping, armed robbery and rape
- JANUARY 13, 2001IraqDEATH PENALTY
A special source reported that the Baghdad regime executed...
A special source reported that the Baghdad regime executed a large number of strugglers in Makasib prison and buried their bodies in a graveyard near Baghdad international airport
- JANUARY 4, 2001IraqDEATH PENALTY
Two Iraqi army generals, Ossama Hassan al-Yawer, brother...
Two Iraqi army generals, Ossama Hassan al-Yawer, brother of a former finance minister, and Taleb al-Saadun, a senior military official of the Baath party, were executed
- DECEMBER 19, 2000IraqDEATH PENALTY
President Saddam Hussein ordered the execution of a...
President Saddam Hussein ordered the execution of a new group of senior Iraqi army officers from the city of Mosul
- DECEMBER 14, 2000IraqDEATH PENALTY
Saddam Hussein ordered the public beheading of dozens...
Saddam Hussein ordered the public beheading of dozens of men and women suspected of being pimps and prostitutes, human rights' groups claimed As many as 100 were thought to have been executed and the heads of some of the victims were tied to their own fro
- DECEMBER 4, 2000IraqDEATH PENALTY
The U
The U
- DECEMBER 3, 2000IraqDEATH PENALTY
In an interview with Radio Free Europe Iraqi former...
In an interview with Radio Free Europe Iraqi former secret police officer Captain Khalid Sachit Al-Janabi said he had witnessed the execution of 2,000 Iraqi dissidents in one day at the Abu Ghraib prison
- NOVEMBER 25, 2000IraqDEATH PENALTY
According to the Committee in Defence of Iraqi Women's...
According to the Committee in Defence of Iraqi Women's Rights, an Australian organisation, more than 200 women were executed in a three week period
- NOVEMBER 4, 2000IraqDEATH PENALTY
A report from the British Foreign Office claimed that...
A report from the British Foreign Office claimed that the Iraqi government was systematically violating the human rights of its citizens
- OCTOBER 14, 2000IraqDEATH PENALTY
The UN's human rights special rapporteur for Iraq,...
The UN's human rights special rapporteur for Iraq, Andreas Mavrommatis, reported that on May 22 he had asked for "clarification and details" to the Iraqi government of allegations that 122 men had been executed between February 3 and March 9 of this year
- OCTOBER 2, 2000IraqDEATH PENALTY
Iraqi sources said that authorities executed eight...
Iraqi sources said that authorities executed eight prisoners on charges of forming an opposition organization and defacing several murals depicting Iraqi President Saddam Husayn
- SEPTEMBER 29, 2000IraqDEATH PENALTY
Ghassan al-Atiyah and Mustafa al-Ani were sentenced...
Ghassan al-Atiyah and Mustafa al-Ani were sentenced to death in absentia on charges of "meeting Israelis" during a meeting that was held in Cairo in August to examine the prospects of the peace process
- AUGUST 4, 2000IraqDEATH PENALTY
A report issued by the Centre for Human Rights of the...
A report issued by the Centre for Human Rights of the Iraqi Communist Party (ICP) in Irbil stated that seven employees of the Central Computers Department in Baghdad had been executed
- AUGUST 1, 2000IraqDEATH PENALTY
A London based Iraqi newspaper claimed that Baghdad's...
A London based Iraqi newspaper claimed that Baghdad's military court "carried out the execution of five navy officers holding different ranks who were convicted of stealing more than 200 kg of silver used in equipment that operates anti-missile missiles"
- JULY 8, 2000IraqDEATH PENALTY
Brig-Gen Sa'ud Khalil al-Hindi, an officer in the Iraqi...
Brig-Gen Sa'ud Khalil al-Hindi, an officer in the Iraqi Army and member of the well-known Al-bu-Hindi Family in the city of Jalula in the Diyala Governorate, was executed on charges of "conspiracy against the state security and life of Iraqi President Sad
- JUNE 9, 2000IraqDEATH PENALTY
A Jordanian national was executed after pleading guilty...
A Jordanian national was executed after pleading guilty of spying on the Iraqi regime
- MAY 17, 2000IraqDEATH PENALTY
Iraqi authorities executed Shaykh Ali al-Ka'bi, imam...
Iraqi authorities executed Shaykh Ali al-Ka'bi, imam of the Al-Muhsin Mosque in Al-Thawrah (Saddam) City at the Directorate-General of Security in Baghdad
- APRIL 23, 2000IraqDEATH PENALTY
The United Nations Human Rights Commission adopted...
The United Nations Human Rights Commission adopted a resolution by roll-call vote of 31 in favour to none against and 22 abstentions, (E/
- APRIL 5, 2000IraqDEATH PENALTY
The Iraqi Communist Party accused Iraqi President Saddam...
The Iraqi Communist Party accused Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's government of executing 122 prisoners
- MARCH 22, 2000IraqDEATH PENALTY
Clashes between tribal gunmen and the emergency forces...
Clashes between tribal gunmen and the emergency forces and detachments of Fida'iyin ended in the city of Rumaythah in southwestern Iraq with the execution of 14 gunmen corned by Saddam's forces
- MARCH 9, 2000IraqDEATH PENALTY
The exiled Iraqi Communist Party accused President...
The exiled Iraqi Communist Party accused President Saddam Hussein's government of killing 58 prisoners held in solitary confinement, burying the bodies of 14 convicted of "political charges" at al-Zahedi cemetery south of Baghdad, and handing over the bod
- MARCH 6, 2000IraqDEATH PENALTY
The architect Hasib Aslan who designed Saddam's living...
The architect Hasib Aslan who designed Saddam's living quarters in Tikrit, Hillah and A'zamiyah, was arrested and imprisoned in Harithiyah prison, where he was executed on the charge of disclosing secret information on Saddam's palaces
- FEBRUARY 24, 2000IraqDEATH PENALTY
The regime executed some 25 Republican Guard officers
The regime executed some 25 Republican Guard officers
- FEBRUARY 1, 2000IraqDEATH PENALTY
A number of Iraqi officers and soldiers, charged with...
A number of Iraqi officers and soldiers, charged with having contacts with Iraqi opposition, were executed at army Division Four headquarters
- JANUARY 27, 2000IraqDEATH PENALTY
The opposition Iraqi Communist Party said that Iraqi...
The opposition Iraqi Communist Party said that Iraqi authorities had executed 26 political prisoners in a Baghdad jail and that 13 people had died in a detention centre near Baghdad from torture and poor conditions