Iraq May Expand Death Penalty

Struggling to fight back against insurgents roiling the country, Iraqi lawmakers have begun to debate sweeping anti-terrorism legislation that could significantly expand use of the death penalty.

Iraq’s leaders, who have been widely criticized at home for not doing enough to protect their citizens, are contemplating expanding the list of crimes punishable by death to include offenses such as attacking government buildings, using explosives to kill people and advocating sectarian violence.

But like many issues in Iraq, the debate is being shadowed by the bloody legacy of Saddam Hussein and the religious and ethnic divisions that many fear are feeding the current violence.

Although many Iraqis have been calling for more executions since the insurgency began, some Sunni Arabs fear that they will be unfairly targeted by the death penalty because the rebellion is centered in Sunni regions of the country.

And human rights groups are expressing concern that an expanded use of the death penalty may push Iraq back toward a time when the government wantonly executed its opponents.

“We have to be careful,” acknowledged Thamer Ghadban, a Sunni legislator with the secular Iraqi List slate, who nonetheless said he was confident that lawmakers would pass a cautiously worded bill that would be implemented fairly.

“We need some kind of a response to these terrorists, to make them think two or three times before they decide to carry out terrorist acts,” said Ala Noori Talabani, a member of the transitional National Assembly with the Kurdish alliance. “Otherwise, what will make people afraid to commit these crimes?”

U.S. authorities initially banned the death penalty after American-led forces deposed Hussein in 2003.

When Iraq’s first transitional government took control last year, it immediately reinstated the death penalty, which is common throughout the Middle East. But delays in reforming the country’s justice system slowed its use, to the growing frustration of many Iraqis who saw the delays as evidence of their government’s impotence.

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani has been on the defensive recently for saying he personally opposes the death penalty, even for Hussein, who is set to go on trial next month on charges stemming from a 1982 massacre of 143 Shiite Muslims.

This month, Iraqi officials carried out the nation’s first executions since the fall of Hussein, hanging three men convicted of murder, rape and kidnapping in the southeastern city of Kut.

Executions are a significant demonstration of the democratic government’s credibility, said Laith Kubba, a spokesman for Prime Minister Ibrahim Jafari.

“If Iraqis do not get an effective government that will enforce law and order, then the outcry, the pressure for a strongman, may be dangerously strong,” Kubba warned recently.

Iraq’s current law makes numerous crimes punishable by death, including murder, sedition and some drug offenses, said Tariq Harb, a prominent Baghdad attorney.

According to a draft of the anti-terrorism legislation, people convicted of attacking police officers, army personnel and diplomatic missions could be subject to the death penalty. So too could those who arm, mobilize or finance citizens to carry out attacks against other sectarian groups. Lending assistance in any of the crimes also could be punishable by death.

The sweeping language of the legislation has prompted the National Assembly to try to clarify the proposal, lawmakers said. Ghadban said the original language could have made a taxi driver who drove a terrorist to a target subject to the death penalty. Those ambiguities will be cleared up, he and others said.

But talk of expanding the death penalty is already making some Sunni leaders and citizens uneasy.

At Baghdad’s large Umm Qura Mosque, cleric Mahmoud Sumaidaie warned Friday against unjust uses of force by authorities. And several Sunnis who came to pray expressed misgivings about expanding the death penalty.

“I support the principle of execution,” said Mohammed Dhiaa, a Baghdad shop owner. “But I fear that if the law is implemented, it will be imposed on one part of society more than another.... I fear that many will be executed.”

Lawmakers said they expected the final anti-terrorism bill to pass within the next several weeks.

Times staff writers Zainab Hussein and Shamil Aziz contributed to this report.