Amnesty calls for moratorium on death sentences Ali Salim and Nasser Al-Mubarak are among Saudis who have been sentenced to death in Iraq. — Okaz photos Muhammad Al-Ahmadi Okaz/Saudi Gazette BAGHDAD – Saudi citizen Mazin Masawee was executed by hanging in Iraq on Monday, Haydar Al-Sadi, spokesman for the Iraqi Ministry of Justice, has confirmed, ending speculation about his fate. Al-Sadi told Okaz/Saudi Gazette that Masawee together with 25 other prisoners, charged with terrorism, were transferred last Monday to the condemned cell and they were hanged separately over a period of three days. There were Jordanians and Syrians among the prisoners. Masawee's body is still lying in the Ministry of Justice's morgue in Baghdad and no one knows where he will be buried although his family demanded that the dead body should be buried in Makkah, informed sources told Okaz/Saudi Gazette. They said the regulations stipulate that if no one has come to claim a body, it will be buried at Al-Najaf Al-Kobra Cemetery. In related news, Abdullah Azzam Saleh Mesfer Al-Qahtani, another Saudi citizen in Iraq, is expected to be executed any time soon. Prison sources said Arab prisoners, especially Saudis, have started a hunger strike following the execution of Masawee. Prisoners want the Iraqi authorities to stop executions and release prisoners who have been wrongly accused of terrorist activities without strong evidence. Badar Awfan Al-Shammary is another Saudi prisoner in Iraq. His mother said that her son was talked into crossing the Iraqi border illegally by a group of people who deceived him and made him believe what he was doing was right. She is waiting for the phone to ring and someone tell her that her son has been pardoned and will not be executed. Meanwhile, Amnesty International called on Thursday for Iraq to issue a moratorium on its use of the death penalty and commute all death sentences after Baghdad said it had executed 26 people this week. The executions, which brought to at least 96 the number of people executed this week, were a “significant and worrying increase compared to the previous year" when at least 68 people were executed, the London-based rights group said in a statement. “Many trials of those sentenced to death failed to meet international standards for fair trials, including that ‘confessions' obtained under torture or other ill-treatment had been used as evidence against them," it said. “Some Iraqi television stations continue to broadcast self-incriminating testimonies of detainees even before the opening of a trial, undermining the fundamental right of defendants to be considered innocent until proven guilty." “Amnesty International is urging the Iraqi authorities to refrain from using the death penalty, commute all death sentences to terms of imprisonment and declare a moratorium on executions," the statement said. Masawee was arrested on Aug. 4, 2010, for allegedly joining a terrorist group which blew up a police station in Baghdad and was sentenced to death, the Iraqi Ministry of Justice's spokesman said. Dr. Maad Al-Obaidi, supervisor for bilateral and legal relations at the Iraqi Embassy in Riyadh, earlier denied reports of Masawee's execution. Asked why he issued a statement denying the execution, Al-Obaidi said: “I denied the reports based on the statements of the director of prisons in Iraq who told the Iraqi Ministry of Foreign Affairs that Mazin was not executed. I called the director again Tuesday and he also denied reports that Mazin was executed." Apparently the statements made by the Ministry of Justice were not accurate, Al-Obaidi added. Dr. Talal Al-Zawbaee, an MP from the Iraqiya List, called upon the Ministry of Justice to stop the executions. At a press conference, he wondered why the executions were taking place just days before the Parliament was going to vote on a public pardon law. “This is unprecedented and unheard of in the Iraqi history. It puts the government in a tight position vis-à-vis the human rights reports made by global organizations." Al-Zawbaee did not exclude the possibility that sectarian motives had been behind the mass executions.
