BAGHDAD (AP) — Human Rights Watch says Iraqi authorities have executed at least 65 people in the first 40 days of 2012 for various offenses, including 14 on a single day.
Deputy Middle East director of the New York-based advocacy group Joe Stork said that executioners appear to have been given the "green light to execute at will."
An HRW report said Thursday that a justice official informed them 14 people were executed the day before, and that more executions should be expected.
The group says Iraq's criminal justice system was flawed, with coerced confessions used as evidence against defendants.
The report says Iraq authorizes the death penalty for close to 50 crimes, including terrorism, kidnapping, and murder, but offenses like damage to public property.
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