Iraq executes five over terrorism

Baghdad: Iraq on Wednesday executed five convicted prisoners over terrorism charges, including a Syrian and Saudi national, the justice ministry announced.

On Tuesday, Iraq executed 21 prisoners, including three women, over similar charges of terrorist crimes.

The death sentences were carried out after the Iraqi Presidency Council approved the penalty verdicts for all the five convicts, Xinhua quoted the justice ministry as saying in a statement.

Death penalty in Iraq was once suspended for over a year in 2003. But the Iraqi government reinstated capital punishment Aug 2004.

IANS