First death sentences in post-Saddam Iraq

Three men in the holy city of Karbala have been sentenced to death after being convicted of crimes ranging from murder to incest, police officials said today.

The rulings are the first death sentences to be handed down in Iraq since the fall of Saddam Hussein’s regime.

Iraq’s former US administrator, Paul Bremer, suspended capital punishment. But since the transfer of power to an interim government last month, Iraqi officials have indicated they would reinstate the death penalty.

The death sentences must be approved by the presidency and the Justice Ministry before they could be carried out.

In one of the Karbala cases, a man and his cousin were sentenced to death for the murder of six members of his family, including his father. The third man was convicted of raping and killing his daughter, said Rahman Mishawi, spokesman for the Karbala police. The rulings were handed down on July 1.

The men’s names were not available.

Saddam, who made his first appearance in court July 1, was arraigned on several war crimes charges that could carry the death penalty if he is convicted.

Mishawi said the three have been transferred to Abu Ghraib prison.