Independence of the judiciary

Whilst Alkarama welcomed the willingness of the Iraqi authorities to create and improve crucial human rights bodies, for example by creating a National Human Rights Institution (NHRI) – the Iraqi High Commission for Human Rights (IHCHR) – it remains to be seen whether and how thoroughly the Iraqi authorities will be following up on their promises, especially in view of the lack of independence of the Iraqi NHRI, as denounced by Alkarama and five local NGOs in December 2014.

Death penalty for people found guilty of terrorism – rejection of all 10 recommendations relating to the abolition of the capital punishment

Amongst other strong concerns, many were not addressed at all in the accepted recommendations, especially the increasing and severe human rights violations in the name of the fight against terrorism. In fact, the vast majority of death sentences in Iraq are handed down on the basis of Article 4 of the 2005 Anti-Terrorism Act No. 13 under which all people found guilty of terrorist acts are sentenced to death, "a law which has been extensively used by the Iraqi authorities to crackdown on human rights defenders and opposition voices by accusing them of 'terrorism'," recalls Inès Osman, Alkarama's Regional Legal Officer for the Mashreq. As the legal definition for terrorism remains extremely vague, the law is also often used to repress and neutralise opponents of the government or its policies.

Member of the Iraqi Council of Representatives, Ahmad Al Alwani, was thus severely tortured and forced to make false confessions, on the basis of which he was charged under Article 4 of the 2005 Anti-Terrorism Act and sentenced to death by the Central Criminal Court of Iraq (CCCI) on 23 November 2014; as were 17 people arrested for their real or perceived link with former Vice-President Tariq Al-Hashimi, all charged with terrorist acts and sentenced to death by the CCCI between 2012-2014 on the basis of their confessions obtained under torture; and four high-profile lawyers, also accused of terrorism in heavily flawed and politically-motivated trials, all subjected arbitrarily arrested and detained, and severely tortured or summarily executed.

It comes as no surprise therefore that Iraq rejected all 10 recommendations relating to the abolition of the death penalty (or the establishment of a moratorium with a view to gradually abolishing it), despite the alarming rise in the number of executions since the reestablishment of the death penalty in the country in 2005. As seen above, this is a particularly worrying trend knowing that all these executions result from deeply flawed court proceedings mainly reliant on unfounded and inadmissible evidence, such as secret informers' testimonies and confessions extracted under torture. The phenomenon of arbitrary executions as a result of death sentences passed following unfair trail therefore continues to be an unaddressed critical issue.

Disregard for recommendations regarding the adoption of mechanisms to prevent the practice of torture

Alkarama also regrets that the Iraqi authorities have not considered the various recommendations to ratify the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture (OPCAT) or to establish a National Preventive Mechanism (NPM) accordingly. During the consideration of the outcome of Iraq's UPR, Amnesty International concluded, that "a long standing issue that remained unaddressed was the rampant use of torture and ill-treatment to extract confessions," whilst Human Rights Now expressed their grave concern over the "widespread and systematic violations by the Iraqi forces against its own citizens."

In fact, and as shown in the cases mentioned above, Alkarama continues to document numerous cases of torture, a practice systematically used in Iraq, where people arrested for their political views or in the context of the fight against terrorism are often detained secretly for long periods of time before being brought before a public prosecutor.

The current instability of the country favours the perpetration of mass arrests and secret detentions, which in turn creates fertile ground for the practice of enforced disappearances, as documented by Alkarama in a number of cases sent to the UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances (CED) on 15 April 2015, 14 April 2015, 16 October 2014, 24 September 2014, 15 September 2014, including cases of disappearance still denied by the authorities even though the students have been seen on video footage in an Iraqi prison, such as in the cases documented on 12 August 2014 and on 8 July 2014.

Rejection of a recommendation to allow journalists and citizens to exercise their freedom of speech

As for the right to freedom of expression, the Iraqi government's reluctance to it is illustrated in its rejection of a recommendation to "grant protection to all journalists and allow them as well as the general public, to exercise their freedom of speech."

Alkarama and other attending civil society groups unanimously agree that Iraq must urgently address the generalised climate of impunity that persists in the country, so as to ensure accountability for human rights violations. The ensuing political instability and security situation cannot be used as an excuse for the Iraqi authorities' neglect.

Alkarama strongly encourages the Iraqi authorities to consider the following core recommendations:
• To amend the laws relative to torture;
• To open thorough investigation into such allegations;
• To sign the OPCAT;
• To revise the Anti-Terrorism Act No.13, as its definition is far too vague and all too often used to persecute political opponents; and
• To adopt a moratorium of the death penalty with view of its full abolition.

For more information or an interview, please contact the media team at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. (Dir: +41 22 734 1008)