Urgent Action 33/07 on Four Women Sentenced to Death in Iraq

URGENT ACTION APPEAL
- From Amnesty International USA

To read the current Urgent Action newsletter, go to
http://www.amnestyusa.org/urgent/newslett.html
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09 February 2007
UA 33/07
Fear of imminent execution/death penalty

IRAQ
Samar Sa'ad 'Abdullah (f), aged about 25
Wassan Talib (f), aged 31
Zeynab Fadhil (f), aged 25
Liqa' Qamar (f), aged 25


The four women named above have been sentenced to death, and
at least one of them is in imminent danger of execution. The
president has the power to pardon them, or commute their
sentences.

Samar Sa'ad 'Abdullah was sentenced to death by the Central
Criminal Court of Iraq (CCCI) on 15 August 2005 for the
murder of her uncle, his wife and three of their children in
the al-Khudra' district of Baghdad. She reportedly blamed
the killings on her fiance, who, she said, had carried them
out in order to rob her uncle. Her fiance was said to have
been arrested, but Amnesty International does not know what
charges, if any, have been brought against him. Samar Sa'ad
'Abdullah's death sentence was upheld on appeal, and she is
facing imminent execution.

In a separate case, Wassan Talib and Zeynab Fadhil were
sentenced to death by the CCCI on 31 August 2006 for the
2005 murder of several members of Iraqi security forces in
the Baghdad district of Hay al-Furat. Both women denied they
had been involved, and Zeynab Fadhil reportedly claimed that
she was abroad at the time of the killings.

Liqa' Qamar was sentenced to death on 6 February 2006 by the
CCCI, for a kidnapping which reportedly took place in 2005.
Her husband is said to have been detained and accused of the
same crime. No further details are available.

All four women are held at Baghdad's al-Kadhimiya Prison.
Two have young children with them: Zeynab Fadhil her three-
year-old daughter, Liqa' Qamar her one-year-old daughter,
who was born in prison.


BACKGROUND INFORMATION
The interim government of Iraq reinstated the death penalty
in August 2004 for several offences, including offences
against Iraq's internal security, premeditated murder, drug
trafficking and (in certain circumstances) kidnapping. The
first three executions were carried out on 1 September 2005,
and during 2006 at least 65 men and women were executed.
Among them were 27 people reportedly hanged in Baghdad on 6
September, and a further 11 hanged in the city of Arbil on
21 September. Among those executed in 2006 was former
president Saddam Hussain. So far this year at least two
people are known to have been executed: Saddam Hussain's
half-brother Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti, and the former head
of the Revolutionary Court, 'Awad Hamad al-Bandar al-Sa'dun.
Both men were executed by hanging on 15 January. They had
been sentenced to death by the Supreme Iraqi Criminal
Tribunal in connection with the killing of 148 people from
the village of al-Dujail, which had followed an attempted
assassination of Saddam Hussain in 1982.


RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly
as possible:
- urging the authorities not to carry out the death
sentences imposed on Samar Sa'ad 'Abdullah, Wassan Talib,
Zeynab Fadhil and Liqa' Qamar;
- expressing concern that Samar Sa'ad 'Abdullah is facing
imminent execution;
- asking for details of the exact charges against each of
the women;
- calling on the authorities to commute all the death
sentences that have been passed since August 2004, and to
move from there to a complete abolition of the death penalty.


APPEALS TO:
In addition to sending direct appeals where contact
information is available below, please also send appeals via
the Iraqi embassy, asking them to forward your appeals to:

President:
Jalal Talabani
Salutation: Your Excellency

Prime Minister:
Nuri Kamil al-Maliki
E-mail: iraqigov@yahoo.com
Salutation: Your Excellency

Minister of Justice:
Hashim al-Shibli
E-mail: minister@iraqi-justice.org or deputy@iraqi-justice.org
Salutation: Your Excellency

Minister of Foreign Affairs
Hoshyar Zebari
E-mail: press@iraqmofa.net
Salutation: Your Excellency


COPIES TO:
Note: Also ask the Embassy to send copies to the Human
Rights Minister, Wajdan Mikhail.

His Excellency Samir Sumaida'ie
Ambassador to the United States
Embassy of the Republic of Iraq
1801 P Street
Washington DC 20036
email: amboffice@iraqiembassy.org
fax: 1 202 462 5066
phone: 1 202 483 7500


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Troubleshooting for Emails

When a government official's email is listed on an Urgent
Action which is distributed globally to activists in over 80
countries, you can imagine how many emails begin to come in
to the official's office! Thus, it's not unusual for an
email to one or more of the listed officials to bounce back,
due to an exceeded mailbox quota or other delivery failures.
Before including an email address in an Urgent Action, the
research and UA teams send messages to ensure emails can get
through.

Please try to send your appeal as quickly as possible. But
if you send an email that bounces back, please fax or
airmail your letter so that the official still hears your
concern. Thanks!
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Please send appeals immediately. Check with the AIUSA Urgent
Action office if sending appeals after 23 March 2007.



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This Urgent Action may be reposted if kept intact, including
contact information and stop action date (if applicable).
Thank you for your help with this appeal.

Urgent Action Network
Amnesty International USA
600 Pennsylvania Ave SE 5th fl
Washington DC 20003
Email: uan@aiusa.org
http://www.amnestyusa.org/urgent/
Phone: 202.544.0200
Fax: 202.675.8566

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END OF URGENT ACTION APPEAL