Death penalty for ‘treason’

The authorities of the Iraqi regime executed air force major (pilot) Abdul Mun´im Farhan Shehab in Abu Ghraib Prison. The sentence was carried out in accordance with presidential decree No. 806. He was charged with attempting to escape from Iraq through Jordan.During the execution, the corridors of the "Heavy Sentences" and "Special Sentences" sections in the prison were closed, and no movement was allowed between halls. The family of the victim, from Al-Shu´la district in Baghdad, was allowed to see him two days before the execution. After execution, his body was handed over to the family, and they were warned not to conduct any ceremony of mourning. (Sources: Iraqi Communist Party, 08/02/2002)
February 14, 2002: ten senior army officers were executed after the authorities managed to stifle yet another attempt by the armed forces to topple the regime of President Saddam Hussein. The plotters, according to informed Iraqi sources, had established cells within the elite force of the Republican Guards and included some of the top army brass. Among the ten executed officers was Lt. Gen. Mohammed al-Dulaimi, a commander of one of the force´s main divisions on which Saddam relies to enforce his rule. The plots had been unveiled by elements of the Special Security Force - a branch charged with the protection of Saddam, his family and immediate associates. (Sources: Damascus, Iraq Press, 14/02/2002)
March 18, 2002: the human rights office of the Iraqi Communist Party said the Iraqi authorities executed three senior army officers early in March on charges of "assailing" and opposing Iraqi President Saddam Husayn. The three officers were named as Major Muhammad Abdallah Shahin, Major Muhammad Najib and Major Muwaffaq - all from the city of Mosul in the north. (Sources: Al-Sharq al-Awsat web site monitored by BBC, 18/03/2002)
March 22, 2002: the Iraqi regime recently executed three military personnel, including a leading figure in the ruling Baath Party, an Iraqi opposition group said. The Iraqi Communist Party said in a statement that the execution was carried out in early March, adding that the executed were members of the "Sayf al-Qa´ed" battalion of the 10th division. The three men - Jiwad Kdhim Lia´ybi, from Hilla, Abdul Hussein Jassim, from Shamiya, and Abdu-Haq Ismail, from Babil Governorate - were executed on charges of blowing up ammunition belonging to the battalion. Abd al-Baqi Sa´dun, a member of the regional command of the ruling Baath Party, took part in the cold-blooded killing of the three men. He fired the last shot into the head of each of the three victims from his personal pistol. The bodies of the three slain men were handed over to their families on March 6.(Sources: Kuna news agency web site monitored by BBC, 22/03/2002)
August 19, 2002: an unclear report stated that following the US air force bombing of Iraqi Battalion 64 on the evenings of 18 and 19 July, the Iraqi regime arrested the officers of the battalion and had them tried at the Special Security Tribunal, under the chairmanship of Dawud Salman Al-Azzawi. Some of those arrested received the death sentence, while others received life imprisonment. One of the officers sentenced to death was Lt Jasim Abd-al-Rasul Al-Jabiri. (Sources: BBC Monitoring International Reports, Middle East, Regay Yekbun, 21/08/2002)
October 21, 2002: the Iraqi authorities reportedly handed over the bodies of Colonel Ahmad Rashid al-Dulaymi and Captain Anwar Muhammad al-Bakri to their families at the beginning of October. Both were pilots and had been executed for treason.(Sources: Kurdistani Nuwe, Al-Sulaymaniyah, monitored by BBC, 23/10/2002)