Iraq executes 36 over 2014 kidnap, massacre of 1,700 recruits

Over the weekend in Iraq, 36 men convicted over the 2014 massacre of hundreds of military recruits, were hanged following the country’s prime minister’s recent vow to expedite execution of convicts sentenced to death in terrorism cases.

According to government officials, the convicts were found guilty of involvement in the “Speicher” massacre, named after a base near Tikrit where up to 1,700 recruits were kidnapped before being executed in a massacre claimed by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group.

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“The executions of 36 convicted over the Speicher crime were carried out this morning in Nasiriyah prison,” a spokesman for the governor’s office in Dhiqar, the province of which Nasiriyah is the capital.

“The governor of Dhiqar, Yahya al-Nasseri, and Justice Minister Haidar al-Zamili were present to oversee the executions,” Abdelhassan Dawood said.

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