36 in Iraq linked to massacre executed

This image posted online by Islamic State militants on June 14, 2014 shows Iraqi cadets captured by IS moments before they were killed in Tikrit, Iraq.
This image posted online by Islamic State militants on June 14, 2014 shows Iraqi cadets captured by IS moments before they were killed in Tikrit, Iraq.

BAGHDAD -- Iraq on Sunday executed 36 men convicted of taking part in the Islamic State militant group's massacre of hundreds of soldiers in 2014, officials said.


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The men were hanged at the Nasiriyah prison in southern Iraq, according to provincial Gov. Yahya al-Nasiri. A Justice Ministry official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief reporters, confirmed the executions.

The executions were carried out in the presence of government officials and relatives of the slain soldiers, Justice Minister Haider al-Zamli said.

The Islamic State captured hundreds of soldiers after seizing Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit in 2014. The soldiers were trying to flee from nearby Camp Speicher, a former U.S. base just outside the northern city. Shortly after taking Tikrit, the Islamic State posted graphic images of gunmen shooting the men dead after forcing them to lie facedown in a shallow ditch.

Human Rights Watch estimated that 770 soldiers had been killed, while Baghdad put the death toll at 1,700.

The Speicher massacre sparked anger across Iraq and partially fueled the mobilization of Shiite militias in the fight against the Islamic State, a Sunni extremist group. The militias now rival the power of Iraq's conventional armed forces.

Iraqi forces arrested dozens of men after retaking Tikrit in 2015 with the help of U.S.-led airstrikes. Several mass graves were found after Tikrit was recaptured.

The men executed on Sunday were sentenced to death by an Iraqi court earlier this year.

The head of the provincial council in Salahuddin province, of which Tikrit is the capital, criticized the judicial process, saying some of the men executed Sunday had been tortured to extract confessions.

Some of them "were not even present at the scene of the crime," Ahmed al-Karim said. "We support the death penalty for those who committed crimes," but "the use of violence and torture [in Iraqi prisons] should be investigated."

But thousands of Iraqis, particularly Shiites, rejoiced at the executions. Although Shiites are the majority in Iraq and have been in power since the 2003 U.S. invasion, they have historically been oppressed by Sunnis.

The death chamber was crowded with the families of Camp Speicher victims who were invited to watch the executions. The convicts were hanged one by one as men hugged one another in celebration, according to a prison official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly.

After the completed executions were announced, Sabah Radhi, whose brother was killed at Camp Speicher, said: "Today is the day of victory for all of us, the day where happiness has entered our broken hearts. We have been waiting for this day since the massacre, and it's finally come true."

Radhi said that as soon as he heard the news, he called his uncle, who lost a son at Camp Speicher. "He was very happy," Radhi said. "He felt that the Iraqi justice system has taken revenge for his son."

Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi had attempted to fast-track the implementation of death sentences after a series of large-scale bombings in and around Baghdad in recent months.

The United Nations criticized that policy earlier this month, saying that "given the weakness of the Iraqi justice system," the rushed sentences risk causing "greater injustice."

Iraqi officials see things differently, and said Sunday that the executions were the result of fair trials and that the sentences had been approved by the president in accordance with Iraqi law.

"This is simple restitution to the martyrs' families," said al-Nasiri, the provincial governor. "Today, the Iraqi judicial system did its work. Today is an important day for the families, to see the people who killed their sons executed in front of their eyes."

Not all relatives of the Camp Speicher victims expressed satisfaction with the executions. Many believe that the massacre victims, who were mainly low-ranking military recruits, were abandoned and betrayed by senior Iraqi officers when the Islamic State militants advanced on the air base.

"I'm not interested in the execution of these people," Khalaf Edan, who lost a son at Speicher, said Sunday. "I would be happier if I attended the execution of one of the military commanders who caused this massacre."

Information for this article was contributed by Qassim Abdul-Zahra of The Associated Press; by Ziad Haris and Ramadan Al-Fatash of the German Press Agency; and by Omar al-Jawoshy, Tim Arango and staff members of The New York Times.

A Section on 08/22/2016

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