Iraq executes 17 prisoners over terror acts

The Iraqi Ministry of Justice on Monday announced that it executed 17 convicted prisoners, including an Egyptian and two Iraqi women, over terror charges and criminal acts. "The Ministry of Justice carried out executions of 17 convicts with most of penalties over terror charges, and their rules were final decisions signed by the presidency," the ministry said in a statement. Sixteen of the convicts were executed in accordance with the anti-terrorism law, including the Egyptian and the two women, while the other one was over criminal offense, it said. The increasing of executions in Iraq sparked calls to stop use of capital punishment by the UN mission in Iraq, the European Union and some international human rights groups, which have criticized the lack of transparency in the proceedings of the Iraqi courts. Death penalty in Iraq was suspended by the then U.S. administrator for Iraq Paul Bremer on June 10, 2003, about a year after the U.S.-led invasion. However, the Iraqi government reinstated it on Aug. 8, 2004, saying it would curb the widespread violence in the country. Since then, scores of people have been executed, including toppled Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.