http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=22956&Cr=&Cr1=19 June 2007 – Citing Iraq’s “procedurally flawed legal processes,” the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers today called on the country to halt the application of the death penalty.
According to a statement, Leandro Despouy urged “the Iraqi Government to stop carrying out death sentences imposed following trials conducted in violation of international human rights standards and principles.”
Reiterating several recent statements, Mr. Despouy said that the right to be tried by an independent and impartial tribunal as well as the right to an adequate defense had been denied in trials conducted by the Iraqi High Tribunal.
Such rights, he noted, are stipulated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.