Wassan Talib, Zainab Fadhil and Liqa Omar Muhammad were reportedly all convicted under Article 156 of the Iraqi Penal Code, which reads: "Any person who willfully commits an act with intent to violate the independence of the country or its unity or the security of its territory and that act, by its nature, leads to such violation is punishable by death."
They are to be put to death Friday.
All three are held in Baghdad’s Al-Kadhimiya Prison. Two have small children beside them. The 1-year-old daughter of Liqa was born in prison. All three women deny the charges brought against them.
Walid Hayali, lawyer and member of The Iraqi Lawyers Union, said the Court issued a ruling against the three women under item 156, without allowing them to engage counsel from a lawyer.
Even if they were guilty they should be held as prisoners of war not executed.
International law affirms: "the legitimacy of the struggle of peoples for independence, territorial integrity, national unity and liberation from colonial and foreign domination and foreign occupation by all available means, including armed struggle” (UN General Assembly Resolution 37/43, adopted 3 December 1982).
Since Iraq’s restoration of the death penalty, in August 2004, nearly 100 people have been hanged. The hangings take place in an extremely fortified facility built by a US contractor in Baghdad. The names of the majority of those executed have never been published.
The most recent report by the United Nations concerning human rights in Iraq reveals that there are presently 31,000 prisoners in the jails of the current Iraqi authorities, and that at least 2,000 women are imprisoned for “security reasons,” where they are being held in the jails of both the Iraqi government and those of the occupation forces.
The following article appears in today's edition of the Turkish Daily News.
Group demands justice for Iraqi women
A group of women in Istanbul demanded that three Iraqi women, who are reportedly facing “imminent execution” in Iraq, be freed during a demonstration in front of the Galatasaray Post Office in Taksim late on Tuesday.
The group of about 150 women, who call themselves “Women Against Occupation,” organized a sit-in in front of the post office and informed the press on the situation of three Iraqi women: Wassan Talib, 31, Zainab Fadhil, 25 and Liqa Omar Muhammad, 26.
The three, whose rights to a lawyer have been denied, are to be executed on March 3, according to a press release distributed at the demonstration. The group called on the Foreign Ministry to act against the executions and then lit candles and staged a 15-minute silent sit-in.
Talib, Fadhil and Muhammad were charged with offenses against public welfare, according to the press release, and were convicted of aiding the insurgency.
They are to be put to death Friday.
All three are held in Baghdad’s Al-Kadhimiya Prison. Two have small children beside them. The 1-year-old daughter of Liqa was born in prison. All three women deny the charges brought against them.
Walid Hayali, lawyer and member of The Iraqi Lawyers Union, said the Court issued a ruling against the three women under item 156, without allowing them to engage counsel from a lawyer.
Even if they were guilty they should be held as prisoners of war not executed.
International law affirms: "the legitimacy of the struggle of peoples for independence, territorial integrity, national unity and liberation from colonial and foreign domination and foreign occupation by all available means, including armed struggle” (UN General Assembly Resolution 37/43, adopted 3 December 1982).
Since Iraq’s restoration of the death penalty, in August 2004, nearly 100 people have been hanged. The hangings take place in an extremely fortified facility built by a US contractor in Baghdad. The names of the majority of those executed have never been published.
The most recent report by the United Nations concerning human rights in Iraq reveals that there are presently 31,000 prisoners in the jails of the current Iraqi authorities, and that at least 2,000 women are imprisoned for “security reasons,” where they are being held in the jails of both the Iraqi government and those of the occupation forces.
The following article appears in today's edition of the Turkish Daily News.
Group demands justice for Iraqi women
A group of women in Istanbul demanded that three Iraqi women, who are reportedly facing “imminent execution” in Iraq, be freed during a demonstration in front of the Galatasaray Post Office in Taksim late on Tuesday.
The group of about 150 women, who call themselves “Women Against Occupation,” organized a sit-in in front of the post office and informed the press on the situation of three Iraqi women: Wassan Talib, 31, Zainab Fadhil, 25 and Liqa Omar Muhammad, 26.
The three, whose rights to a lawyer have been denied, are to be executed on March 3, according to a press release distributed at the demonstration. The group called on the Foreign Ministry to act against the executions and then lit candles and staged a 15-minute silent sit-in.
Talib, Fadhil and Muhammad were charged with offenses against public welfare, according to the press release, and were convicted of aiding the insurgency.
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