Iraq hangs 11 terrorism convicts in latest mass executions, security officials say

PHOTO CAPTION: Illustrative photo — Members of Iraqi federal police are seen with military vehicles in a street in Baghdad, Iraq October 7, 2019. REUTERS/Wissm al-Okili

NASSIRIYA, Iraq (Reuters) - Iraq had hanged 11 militants sentenced to death on terrorism charges, local security officials said on Thursday.

The executions were carried out on Monday at a prison in the southern Iraqi city of Nassiriya and all those executed were Iraqi nationals, said a prison police officer and a local security official. They declined to be named because they were not authorised to speak to the media.

They said the 11 men were convicted of joining the Islamic State militant group and taking part in "terrorist actions".

In a report issued on Wednesday, Amnesty International raised concern that many more people may have been executed in secret given a "disturbing lack of transparency" regarding executions in Iraq in recent months.

Iraq has put hundreds of suspected jihadists on trial and carried out several mass executions since defeating Islamic State fighters in U.S.-backed military campaign in 2014-2017.



(Reporting by Maher al-Saih in Nassiriya and Timour Azhari in Baghdad; Writing by Ahmed Rasheed; Editing by Tomasz Janowski)