IRAQ: 38 HANGED DESPITE UN CHIEF CALLS TO STOP EXECUTIONS

Iraq’s Ministry of Justice sent 38 inmates to the gallows. According to a report aired by al-Rafedein TV, these inmates were executed in the so-called high security prison. According to informed sources, Adel al-Mashhadani, a former Sunni leader of a government-allied paramilitary group in the Fazl region and an opponent of Maliki’s policies, was among those executed. On 19 November 2009, an Iraqi court had sentenced Adel al- Mashhadani and his aide to death on "terrorism charges," including murder and kidnapping. These executions were carried out just a week after UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s recent visit to Baghdad, when Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki publicly rebuked Ban's call for the country to halt executions and human rights violations.