BAGHDAD: Iraq executed seven people yesterday, including three men convicted of the 1994 killing in Beirut of the father of a current MP, despite international condemnation over Baghdad’s use of the death penalty.
The executions, carried out by hanging, were the first to be confirmed since January 23 and brought to at least 44 the total number of people put to death so far this year.
Among those executed were three men convicted in April 2011 over the April 1994 murder of Sheikh Taleb Al Suhail Al Tamimi, and termed agents of the ousted Saddam regime.
Tamimi’s daughter, Safia Al Suhail, has been an Iraqi lawmaker since 2005.
She was elected to the Council of Representatives in March 2010 polls as part of Prime Minister Nuri Al Maliki’s slate, but is now an independent MP.
Tamimi, head of the Banu Tamim tribe, fled to Beirut with his family after a Baath Party coup in 1968 and later attempted his own coup against Saddam Hussein, but was gunned down outside his home in the Lebanese capital on April 14, 1994.
Lebanon severed its ties with Iraq after the killing.
The four other people executed yesterday were convicted on terror charges, the justice ministry said.
AFP
