IRAQ. 11 FACE IMMINENT EXECUTION

According to the Iraqi news agency Aswat al-Iraq, 11 people in Iraq are facing imminent execution after the Court of Cassation upheld their death sentences, which will now be passed to the Presidential Council for ratification.
The only hope for the eleven is for the Presidential Council to refuse to ratify their sentences, or for the president to pardon them.
According to Aswat al-Iraq, the 11 have been convicted of various criminal offences including murder, murder followed by robbery, and kidnapping. They were sentenced to death by criminal courts in Baghdad, Basra, and in the provinces of Diwaniya, Dhi Qar and Ninewa. No further information is currently available. Since the reintroduction of the death penalty in Iraq in August 2004, hundreds of people have been sentenced to death and there has been a rapid rise in the frequency of executions in the country.