The High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay described the Iraqi justice system as “too seriously flawed to warrant even a limited application of the death penalty, let alone dozens of executions at a time.”

The Government has executed 33 individuals in the past month, and the ministry of justice announced that a further 150 people may be executed in the coming days. A total of 1,400 people are believed to be currently on death row, and 129 people were executed in 2012 alone.

“Executing people in batches like this is obscene,” Ms. Pillay said. “It is like processing animals in a slaughterhouse. The criminal justice system in Iraq is still not functioning adequately, with numerous convictions based on confessions obtained under torture and ill-treatment, a weak judiciary and trial proceedings that fall short of international standards. The application of the death penalty in these circumstances is unconscionable, as any miscarriage of justice as a result of capital punishment cannot be undone.”

The Government maintains that it only executes individuals who have committed terrorist acts or other serious crimes against civilians, and have been convicted under an anti-terrorism law passed in 2005. However, Ms. Pillay expressed concern about one of the articles of the law, which broadens the scope of terrorism-related acts.

Ms. Pillay called on the Government “to halt executions, conduct a credible and independent review of all death row cases and disclose information on the number and identity of death row prisoners, the charges and judicial proceedings brought against them, and the outcome of the review of their cases.”

Prisoners convicted on terrorism-related charges are apparently unable to exercise the right to seek pardon or commutation of their sentences, as prescribed in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and Ms. Pillay noted that the presidential authority to pardon or commute death sentences is hardly ever exercised.

“I am the first to argue there must never be impunity for serious crimes. But at least if someone is jailed for life, and it is subsequently discovered there was a miscarriage of justice, he or she can be released and compensated,” she said.

Ms. Pillay said she was pleased that one part of Iraq – the Kurdistan Region – is already upholding an unofficial moratorium on the death penalty, and urged the central Government to follow suit and heed the repeated calls by the international community to establish a moratorium on all executions with a view to abolish the death penalty in accordance with repeated UN General Assembly resolutions. She added that around 150 countries have now either abolished the death penalty in law or in practice, or introduced a moratorium.

2012 saw the resumption of executions in several countries that had not used the death penalty in some time, notably India, Japan, Pakistan and Gambia, as well as an alarming escalation in executions in Iraq.

But the use of the death penalty continues to be restricted to an isolated group of countries, and progress towards its abolition was seen in all regions of the world.

Only 21 of the world’s countries were recorded as having carried out executions in 2012 – the same number as in 2011, but down from 28 countries a decade earlier in 2003.

In 2012, at least 682 executions were known to have been carried out worldwide, two more than in 2011. At least 1,722 newly imposed death sentences in 58 countries could be confirmed, compared to 1,923 in 63 countries the year before.

But these figures do not include the thousands of executions that Amnesty International believes were carried out in China, where the numbers are kept secret.

“The regression we saw in some countries this year was disappointing, but it does not reverse the worldwide trend against using the death penalty. In many parts of the world, executions are becoming a thing of the past,” said Salil Shetty, Secretary General of Amnesty International.

“Only one in 10 countries in the world carries out executions. Their leaders should ask themselves why they are still applying a cruel and inhumane punishment that the rest of the world is leaving behind.”

The top five executing countries in the world were once again China, Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and USA, with Yemen closely behind.

Methods of executions in 2012 included hanging, beheading, firing squad and lethal injection. In Saudi Arabia, the body of one man executed through beheading was displayed in what is known as “crucifixion”.

People faced the death penalty for a range of crimes including non-violent drug-related and economic offences, but also for “apostasy”, “blasphemy”, and “adultery” – acts that should not be considered crimes at all.

The executions took place in Abha, a city in the southern region of Asir, the Saudi Press Agency said.

According to reports, the men were charged with organizing a criminal group, armed robbery and raiding and breaking into jewellery stores in 2005, and consequently sentenced to death in Asir in 2009.

Two of the men are believed to have been juveniles at the time of the alleged crime: Ali bin Muhammad bin Hazam al-Shihri and Sa’id bin Nasser bin Muhammad al-Shahrani, according to Amnesty International.

In a trial only lasting several hours, all men were denied legal representation and refused the opportunity to appeal, Amnesty added.

Saudi Arabian authorities postponed the executions which were initially set to take place on March 5.

They were executed “as a punishment to them and to deter others” from carrying out similar crimes, said SPA.

The kingdom usually beheads or sentences people to lashes for murder, rape and drug- smuggling.

Saudi Arabia has been criticized by international human rights and UN experts over death sentences.

One day before the executions Amnesty International released a statement saying: “Executing these men would be an act of sheer brutality – it must be stopped immediately. All seven should be granted a new trial and torture allegations must be investigated,” said Philip Luther, Amnesty International’s Director for the Middle East and North Africa.

“In countries that have not abolished the death penalty, capital punishment may be imposed only following a trial that complied with fair trial and due process safeguards,” said the UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Christof Heyns.

“In countries that have not abolished the death penalty, capital punishment may be imposed only following a trial that complied with fair trial and due process safeguards,” said the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Christof Heyns.

According to reports, the men were charged with organizing a criminal group, armed robbery and raiding and breaking into jewellery stores in 2005, and consequently sentenced to death in Asir in 2009.

Mr. Heyns expressed concern that the crimes, which were allegedly fabricated, cannot be considered as most serious crimes to merit the death penalty.

“Any death sentence undertaken in contravention of a Government’s international obligations is tantamount to an arbitrary execution,” Mr. Heyns underlined. “Only full respect for stringent due process guarantees distinguishes capital punishment as possibly permitted under international law from a summary execution, which by definition violates human rights standards.”

The Special Rapporteur on torture, Juan E. Méndez, said there are also grave concerns that the men were tortured during detention and forced to sign confessions.

“This is not only in breach of Saudi Arabia’s international obligations under international law, which imposes an outright prohibition on torture, it is also in breach of the Government’s international obligation under the Convention against Torture that explicitly forbids the use of all forms of torture for the purpose of extracting confessions or acquiring information,” Mr. Méndez stressed.

The Chair of the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, El Hadji Malick Sow, added his concern about the death penalty being imposed following a possible violation of the right to liberty and security of all individuals.

The execution was originally scheduled for 5 March but was postponed for one week, and may be carried out today.

“I urge the Gambia to immediately stem this regression in human rights protection, and to impose an official moratorium, effective immediately, on the use of the death penalty,” said the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay.

“The statement by President Yahya Jammeh that all remaining death sentences would be carried out by mid-September is extremely worrying, and raises serious questions about the motivation behind the sudden rush to execute,” she added. “A further statement by the Ministry of the Interior, which seeks to justify the change of policy, is seriously misguided.”

Until now, Gambia was at the forefront in the region’s efforts to abolish the death penalty in law and practice, with a moratorium on the death penalty for 27 years and the abolition of capital punishment for drug offences in April 2011.

Prior to the nine executions carried out on 26 August, the last official execution in the West African nation took place in 1985, according to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).

“The Gambia has, for almost three decades, been one of the increasing number of States that did not practice capital punishment – until this sudden, grave, unfortunate change of course,” Pillay said, adding that this represented an unfortunate setback for human rights protection in the country.

Pillay voiced her concern over the fairness of the trials of some of the people sentenced to death, as well as the lack of transparency surrounding the identity of those who were executed.

“The confusion and lack of transparency for several days over whether the executions actually took place, and accompanying uncertainty about the identity of those executed, is unacceptable, particularly for the family members of those killed. Secretly executing individuals without informing their families amounts to inhuman treatment,” Pillay said.

The High Commissioner also warned that international law, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which Gambia has ratified, requires compliance with rigorous fair trial standards in cases where death sentences are imposed.

“I urgently call on the President and relevant authorities in the Gambia to heed all the international, regional and local calls on the Government not to carry out further executions,” she said, adding that “the moratorium that was in place for the past quarter of a century was something the country could be proud of, and was respected for.”

Pillay’s call follows that of the UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Christof Heyns, who on Wednesday strongly condemned the recent executions and called on the Government to refrain from executing others on death row.

Those executed included one Saudi and one Syrian citizen and three women. Authorities said that all had been convicted on charges “related to terrorism,” but provided little information about what crimes they had committed.

“There is no doubt that Iraq still has a serious terrorism problem, but it also has a huge problem with torture and unfair trials,” said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. “The lack of transparency around these convictions and executions, in a country where confessions that may have been coerced are often the only evidence against a person, makes it crucial for Iraq to declare an immediate moratorium on all executions.”

Human Rights Watch said it opposes the death penalty in all circumstances because it is unique in its cruelty and finality, and is plagued with arbitrariness, prejudice, and error.

Iraqi authorities rarely announce executions beforehand and have not made public the total number of executions in a given year, Human Rights Watch said.

According to the United Nations, more than 1,200 people are believed to have been sentenced to death in Iraq since 2004. The number of prisoners executed during that period has not been revealed publicly. Iraqi law authorizes the death penalty for close to 50 crimes, including terrorism, kidnapping, and murder, but also including such offenses as damage to public property.

“The government should disclose the identities, locations, and status of all prisoners on death row, the crimes for which they have been convicted, the evidence supporting their conviction, and details of any impending executions,” Stork said.

International human rights law requires that where the death penalty has not been abolished, it should be imposed only in cases for the most serious crimes and after scrupulous adherence tointernational fair trial standards, including the rights of the defendant to competent defense counsel, to be presumed innocent until proven guilty, and not to be compelled to confess guilt.

Criminal trials in Iraq often violate these minimum guarantees, Human Rights Watch said. Many defendants are unable to pursue a meaningful defense or to challenge evidence against them, and lengthy pretrial detention without judicial review is common.

“It is extremely disturbing that up to 196 individuals may be at imminent risk of execution, with a serious lack of public information on the cases,” said the Special Rapporteur on arbitrary executions, Christof Heyns (photo). “And this is in a single province of the country.”

Iraq’s Ministry of Interior has reportedly announced that the Court of Cassation has upheld the death sentences in Anbar province, west of Baghdad, according to a news release issued by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). It added that it is unclear whether any of these sentences have yet been ratified by the Iraqi Presidential Council.

“The lives of too many individuals are at stake,” Heyns said, urging the Iraqi Government to immediately halt executions and review all death row cases. He recalled that the death penalty may only be imposed – in countries that still have this form of punishment – if a strict set of substantive and procedural requirements are met.

He supported the appeal, made in January 2012, by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, for the establishment of a moratorium on the death penalty.

In that statement, Pillay deplored that 34 individuals had been executed in Iraq within one day. Reports indicate that 70 people have been executed in the country thus far in 2012. “Overall, an alarming number of death sentences have been carried out in Iraq over the past few years,” stated the news release.

Stressing the duty of the State to ensure transparency and legal due process, Heyns called on the Government to disclose information on the number of executions carried out, the identity of death row prisoners, the charges and judicial proceedings against them, and the outcome of the review of their cases.

“Maintaining secrecy over executions undermines public scrutiny and may lead the international community to conclude that these are being imposed in violation of international law,” he said.

Independent experts, or special rapporteurs, are appointed by the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council to examine and report back on a country situation or a specific human rights theme. The positions are honorary and the experts are not UN staff, nor are they paid for their work.

“The taking of life is too absolute, too irreversible, for one human being to inflict on another, even when backed by legal process,” Ban told a panel organized by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) on ‘Moving away from the death penalty – Lessons from national experiences’ at UN Headquarters in New York.

“Where the death penalty persists, conditions for those awaiting execution are often horrifying, leading to aggravated suffering,” he added.

In 2007, the General Assembly endorsed a call for a worldwide moratorium of the death penalty. Since then, the practice has been abolished by countries like Argentina, Burundi, Gabon, Latvia, Togo and Uzbekistan. More than 150 States have either abolished the death penalty or do not practice it.

However, Ban noted, the death penalty is still used for a wide range of crimes in various countries. In particular, he expressed concern that 32 States retain the death penalty for drug-related offences, and its use on juvenile offenders.

“I am also very concerned that some countries still allow juvenile offenders under the age of 18 at the time of the alleged offence to be sentenced to death and executed,” Ban said. “The call by the General Assembly for a global moratorium is a crucial stepping stone in the natural progression towards a full worldwide abolition of the death penalty.

The High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, has also repeatedly called for the universal abolition of the death penalty, citing a host of reasons ranging from the fundamental right to life to the possibility of judicial errors.

In addition, Ban’s Guidance Note of 2008 on the UN Approach to Rule of Law Assistance stated that the UN will not establish or directly participate in any tribunal that allows for capital punishment.

The former president is being charged for deaths, corruption and toture that occurred during the Arab Spring protests in the country last year. Ben Ali has already been sentenced to more than 66 years in prison but has not yet been convicted of charges that carry the death penalty, according to Al Arabiya.

It is the first time the death penalty has been sought against the ousted  dictator  in which the protest against his autocratic rule has triggered the awakening that has swept the region.

Among those on trial in the case are former interior ministers Rafik Belhaj Kacem and Ahmed Friaa, Reuters reported.

On Tuesday, Tunisia’s justice minister said he suspected Ben Ali was still benefiting from funds stashed abroad 16 months after his overthrow and urged Saudi Arabia to extradite the former president for trial, Al Arabiya reported.

Tunisia’s government has faced condemnation over its failure to persuade Saudi Arabia to hand over Ben Ali and his wife, Leila Trabelsi.

According to theUnited Nations , more than 300 people were killed and many others wounded during Ben Ali’s crackdown on protests over corruption, unemployment, and high food prices.