SECRETARY-GENERAL STRONGLY URGES GOVERNMENT TO STAY EXECUTION

 

OF DEATH SENTENCES IMPOSED BY IRAQI HIGH TRIBUNAL

 

The following statement was issued on 6 January by the Spokesperson for UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon:

The Secretary-General strongly urged the Government of Iraq to grant a stay of execution to those whose death sentences may be carried out in the near future. 

His Chef de Cabinet, in a letter to the Permanent Representative of Iraq to the United Nations, today reiterated the Secretary-General’s endorsement of the call made on 3 January 2007 by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Louise Arbour, for restraint by the Government of Iraq in the execution of death sentences imposed by the Iraqi High Tribunal. 

The letter also refers to the Secretary-General’s view that all members of the international community should pay due regard to all aspects of international humanitarian and human rights laws.

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For information media • not an official record