Iraq hangs 36 over 2014 massacre of recruits

A soldier prays at a mass grave for Shi'ite soldiers from Camp Speicher who have been killed by ISIL militants in the presidential compound of the former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein in Tikrit, IraqShow more

NASIRIYAH, IRAQ // Iraq on Sunday hanged 36 men convicted over the 2014 massacre by Sunni extremists and allied militants of hundreds of military recruits.

They had been found guilty of involvement in the Speicher massacre, named after a base near Tikrit where up to 1,700 recruits were kidnapped before being executed in a massacre claimed by the ISIL extremist group.

“The executions of 36 convicted over the Speicher crime were carried out this morning in Nasiriyah prison,” said a spokesman for the governor’s office in Dhiqar, the province of which Nasiriyah is the capital.

“The governor of Dhiqar, Yahya Al Nasseri and justice minister Haidar Al Zamili were present to oversee the executions,” Abdelhassan Dawood said.

“They were transferred to Nasiriyah last week after the president approved the executions,” he said, referring to the necessary green light from president Fuad Masum.

Following the death of more than 300 people in the worst ever single bomb attack to strike Baghdad last month, prime minister Haider Al Abadi had said he wanted to expedite the execution of inmates sentenced to death in terrorism cases.

The Dhiqar governor’s spokesman said that around 400 of the Speicher massacre victims were from the Dhiqar province, which is predominantly Shiite and located in Iraq’s south.

“Tens of relatives attended the executions,” said Mr Dawood. The trials that have led to Iraq’s latest batches of death sentences have been severely criticised by rights groups as failing to meet basic standards.

Amnesty International had criticised Iraq’s systematic resort to the death penalty following the execution of 22 other people in May this year.

The United Nations had criticised Mr Al Abadi’s call to speed up executions, which according to Amnesty already topped 100 for 2016 before Sunday’s hangings.

“Fast-tracking executions will only accelerate injustice,” UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein said earlier this month.

The Speicher massacre is considered one of ISIL worst crimes since it took over large parts of the country in 2014.

Combined with a call by the country’s top Shiite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali Al Sistani for Iraqis to take up arms against them, the Speicher massacre played a key role in the mass recruitment of Shiite volunteers to fight the extremists.

* Agence France-Presse