Thirty-eight jihadists sentenced to death in their "terrorism" trials were hanged Thursday in a prison in Nasiriyah, southern Iraq.
This is the largest number of mass executions in Iraq since the deaths of 42 others on September 25 in the same prison.
"The prison administration executed on Thursday the presence of the Minister of Justice, Haidar al-Zameli, in the prison of Nasiriyah, 38 people sentenced to death belonging to Al Qaeda and Daes (aka the acronym of the Islamic State organization in Arabic) who had been accused of terrorist activities, "said Dahl Kazem, deputy director of the security committee of the Zi Kar provincial council.
The executions took place after the verdict and decision were confirmed by the presidential council, which is required to give its approval, according to the justice ministry.
All those executed on Thursday were Iraqis. One of them also had Swedish citizenship, said a source close to the Iraqi prison service.
For Lynn Maalouf, head of Amnesty International in the Middle East, "in a mass execution, the second in three months, the Iraqi authorities have once again shown utter disregard for human life and dignity. ».
"The victims of the IC deserve justice, not mass executions after summary trials that had to be canceled due to procedural problems," he said. "Those who committed deadly attacks on civilians must be brought to justice, but executions are not the answer," he added.