BAGHDAD: Iraqi authorities executed 10 men yesterday, a spokesman said, bringing to 129 the number of people put to death this year, defying international calls for a halt to Baghdad’s use of capital punishment. The mass executions were the first in around a month in Iraq, which has been roundly condemned by European governments and international human rights organisations for its use of the death penalty.
“Ten people were executed, including one Egyptian,” a justice ministry official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. “They were accused of terrorist crimes.”
The official did not provide further details about the men, or the specific crimes of which they were convicted. Executions in Iraq are normally carried out by hanging.
Egypt police bust
baby trafficking ring
CAIRO: Egyptian police said yesterday they had broken up a child trafficking ring that sold almost 300 babies for 570 dollars each or less. A police official said they arrested five suspects, including two nurses and a doctor working at the Cairo hospital where the babies were sold for almost three years. Police are searching for the hospital manager who escaped arrest.
The official said the network also performed caesarian operations on women who had left it too late for an abortion of an unwanted child in exchange for allowing the doctors to sell the babies, usually to couples who could not have their own children. Adoption is illegal in Egypt, which adheres to Islamic law in some family matters. Agencies
