IRAQ. 17 EXECUTIONS INCLUDING TWO WOMEN

August 19, 2013: Iraqi authorities executed 17 people, including an Egyptian man and two Iraqi women, most of whom were convicted of terrorism, Iraq's Ministry of Justice said in a statement released. "The Ministry carried out the executions against the terrorists after it was approved by the presidential council," the ministry said in the statement. Nearly 70 people were executed in Iraq in 2013, according to CNN tally, and Human Rights Watch reports that more than 120 people were executed between 2011 and 2012. (Sources: CNN, 20/08/2013)