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
- 866
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 866 news items on Iraq, from 1999 to today.
Latest news
APRIL 27, 2022IraqDEATH PENALTYIRAQ: ‘TERRORIST’ SENTENCED TO DEATH IN DHI QAR
The Dhi Qar criminal court on 25 April 2022 issued a death sentence against a ‘terrorist’, a security source reported.
FEBRUARY 15, 2022IraqDEATH PENALTYIRAQ: POLICE OFFICER, INFORMANT SENTENCED TO DEATH OVER DEADLY OPERATION
An Iraqi court sentenced to death on 13 February 2022 a police officer and an informant over a deadly operation in December that left 20 people from the same family dead.
DECEMBER 29, 2021IraqDEATH PENALTYIRAQ: THREE PEOPLE SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR TERROR CHARGES
An Iraqi criminal court on 23 December 2021 handed death sentences to three people accused of having a hand in a terrorist bomb attack that targeted southeastern Iraq earlier this month, the country’s Supreme Judicial Council announced.
DECEMBER 14, 2021IraqDEATH PENALTYIRAQ: THREE HANGED ON ‘TERRORISM’ CHARGES
Iraq on 14 December 2021 hanged three men convicted of “terrorism” offenses in a prison in the city of Nasiriyah in the mainly Shiite Muslim south, two security sources told AFP.
NOVEMBER 29, 2021IraqDEATH PENALTYIRAQ: DEFENDANT SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR TERRORISM IN NAJAF
Najaf Criminal Court sentenced a defendant to the capital penalty for charges related to terrorism on 28 November 2021.
NOVEMBER 4, 2021IraqDEATH PENALTYIRAQ: TWO MILITANTS GET DEATH SENTENCES FOR KILLING TWO JOURNALISTS
Iraq’s Basra Criminal Court sentenced two men to death on 1 and 2 November 2021 for involvement in a death squad that killed multiple Iraqi journalists and activists.
- NOVEMBER 3, 2021IraqDEATH PENALTY
IRAQ: TWO SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR KILLING PROTESTOR
Two men accused of killing an Iraqi protestor during nationwide demonstrations that broke out in late 2019 were handed a death sentence by a court in Basra province, state media reported on 2 November 2021.
- OCTOBER 11, 2021IraqDEATH PENALTY
IRAQ: DAESH'S 'SHARIA JUDGE' SENTENCED TO DEATH
An Iraqi court on 21 June 2021 handed a death sentence to Daesh's "Sharia judge" after convicting him of killing 5 security forces in the country.
- SEPTEMBER 28, 2021IraqDEATH PENALTY
IRAQ: THREE MEN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR MURDER IN IRAQI KURDISTAN
A court in Erbil, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan, on 2 August 2021 sentenced three people to death for the murder of a leader of the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (DPIK).
- SEPTEMBER 7, 2021IraqDEATH PENALTY
IRAQI: DEATH PENALTY HANDED TO CONVICTED KILLER OF LOCAL KARBALA OFFICIAL
An Iraqi court on 21 August 2021 sentenced the recently convicted killer of the Mayor of the central city of Karbala to the death penalty.
SEPTEMBER 7, 2021IraqDEATH PENALTYIRAQ: 7,900 PRISON INMATES SENTENCED TO DEATH, MP REVEALS
The head of the Parliamentary Strategic Planning and Government Program Monitoring Committee, Hazem Majid Al-Khalidi, called on the Presidency of the Republic to abide by the constitution to implement death sentences against terrorists whose sentences wer
SEPTEMBER 4, 2021IraqDEATH PENALTYIRAQ: SIX IRAQIS ON DEATH ROW EXECUTED, THREE FOR 'TERRORISM'
Six Iraqis sentenced to death, three for "terrorism", were hanged on 30 August 2021 in a prison in southern Iraq, a medical source told AFP.
- JULY 4, 2021IraqDEATH PENALTY
IRAQ: NINE SENTENCED TO DEATH OVER 2014 SPEICHER MASSACRE
The Iraqi Central Criminal Court on 27 June 2021 issued death sentences against nine convicts involved in the Camp Speicher massacre in Saladin, in 2014.
JUNE 25, 2021IraqDEATH PENALTYIRAQ: MAN WHO MURDERED KURDISH FAMILY IN BAGHDAD SENTENCED TO DEATH
A man who killed a Kurdish family of three in Baghdad was sentenced to death on 8 June 2021, a lawyer told Rudaw.
JUNE 24, 2021IraqDEATH PENALTYIRAQ: 13 PEOPLE SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR TERRORISM BY BAGHDAD COURT
Thirteen people have been sentenced to death in Iraq after confessing to their association with the Islamic State (ISIS), according to a statement from the Supreme Judicial Council.
- JUNE 16, 2021IraqDEATH PENALTY
IRAQ: AL-QAEDA MEMBER SENTENCED TO DEATH
An Iraqi criminal court handed down two death sentences to a senior al-Qaeda religious leader member, the Supreme Judicial Council announced on 14 June 2021.
- APRIL 20, 2021IraqDEATH PENALTY
IRAQ: APPEALS COURT UPHOLDS DEATH SENTENCE FOR SULAIMANI MAN WHO KILLED WIFE AND CHILDREN
Erbil’s Court of Appeals has upheld a death sentence for a man who burned his wife and three children to death in December 2018 in Sulaimani province, the victims’ lawyer told Rudaw on 19 April 2021.
APRIL 12, 2021IraqDEATH PENALTYIRAQ: ISIS LEADER HANDED DEATH SENTENCE FOR 2014 ANBAR MASSACRE
An Iraqi court sentenced an Islamic State(ISIS) leader to death on 12 April 2021 for committing a massacre against a Sunni tribe in Anbar province in 2014.
- MARCH 4, 2021IraqDEATH PENALTY
IRAQ EXECUTES 3 'TERRORISM' CONVICTS
Iraq on 3 March 2021 hanged three men convicted on "terrorism" charges in a notorious southern prison, local officials said, despite repeated international condemnations of the country's execution record.
FEBRUARY 25, 2021IraqDEATH PENALTYIRAQ: WOMAN TO BE HANGED FOR KILLING HER 2 CHILDREN
An Iraqi court on 19 February 2021 sentenced a woman to death by hanging after convicting her of throwing her two children into a river in a case that triggered shockwaves in the country.
FEBRUARY 10, 2021IraqDEATH PENALTYIRAQ: FIVE ‘TERRORISM’ CONVICTS HANGED
Iraq on 9 February 2021 hanged five people convicted on “terrorism” charges in a notorious southern prison, security sources said, despite an international outcry in recent months over the country’s execution record.
JANUARY 27, 2021IraqDEATH PENALTYIRAQ: THREE CONVICTED OF ‘TERRORISM’ HANGED
Three Iraqis convicted of “terrorism” were hanged on 25 January 2021, a security source said, days after a deadly double suicide attack in a crowded Baghdad marketplace.
- JANUARY 25, 2021IraqDEATH PENALTY
IRAQ: 340 DEATH SENTENCES RATIFIED FOLLOWING ISIS SUICIDE BOMBINGS
Iraq’s president ratified more than 340 death sentences for people with terrorism and other criminal charges, state media reported on 24 January 2021.
- NOVEMBER 17, 2020IraqDEATH PENALTY
IRAQ EXECUTES 21 CONVICTED OF ‘TERRORISM’ AT NOTORIOUS NASIRIYAH PRISON
Iraq executed 21 men convicted of “terrorism” on 16 November 2020 at the notorious Nasiriyah prison in the country’s south, medical and police sources said.
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.