IRAQ. ANOTHER EXECUTION DUE AS NEW DEATH SENTENCE PASSED

Abed Saleh al-Issawi, an Iraqi man convicted of murder, was sentenced to death in Iraq's fourth scheduled execution since authorities reinstated capital punishment. Issawi, a 24-year-old restaurant employee, was accused of assassinating two policemen and a finance ministry driver in January 2005 on the road from Baghdad to the southern town of Kut, judge Jaafar al-Ussi said. Issawi, a suspected member of a militant group called Abu Abdullah, earned 100 dollars for the killings, according to the court in Kut, a dusty Shiite town 175 kilometres (110 miles) from Baghdad.