BAGHDAD, Aug 21: The Iraqi government on Sunday defended its decision to reinstate the death penalty following a United Nations appeal for Baghdad to reconsider executing three convicted felons.

“I understand the position of international organisations including the UN and Amnesty International which are against the death penalty in general,” government spokesman Leith Kubba told reporters.

“But we are faced with a reality in Iraq where people are murdering, and what we want is a sentence which punishes the hand that kills and the person who commits this crime.”

UN special envoy to Iraq Ashraf Jehangir Qazi on Saturday urged the government not to go ahead with the country’s first executions since the 2003 overthrow of dictator Saddam Hussein, who himself faces charges punishable by death.

Qazi said he “deeply regrets” the decision of the Iraqi government “in the process of transition” to reinstate the death penalty.

“One should look at consolidating the right to life instead of imposing the death penalty which has a very poor recognised effect in deterring crimes,” read a statement from Qazi.

Iraqi vice president Adel Abdel Mehdi had signed a decree on Wednesday authorising the execution of three men sentenced to death for kidnapping policemen and raping Iraqi women.

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, a longstanding opponent of the death penalty, had refused to sign the death warrants instead delegating the task to Mehdi.—AFP