From Amnesty International via Ilya:
IRAQ Samar Sa’ad ‘Abdullah (f), aged about 25
Wassan Talib (f), aged 31
Zeynab Fadhil (f), aged 25
Liqa’ Qamar (f), aged 25The four women named above have been sentenced to death, and at least one of them is in imminent danger of execution. The president has the power to pardon them, or commute their sentences.
Samar Sa’ad ‘Abdullah was sentenced to death by the Central Criminal Court of Iraq (CCCI) on 15 August 2005 for the murder of her uncle, his wife and three of their children in the al-Khudra’ district of Baghdad. She reportedly blamed the killings on her fiancé, who, she said, had carried them out in order to rob her uncle. Her fiancé was said to have been arrested, but Amnesty International does not know what charges, if any, have been brought against him. Samar Sa’ad ‘Abdullah’s death sentence was upheld on appeal, and she is facing imminent execution.
In a separate case, Wassan Talib and Zeynab Fadhil were sentenced to death by the CCCI on 31 August 2006 for the 2005 murder of several members of Iraqi security forces in the Baghdad district of Hay al-Furat. Both women denied they had been involved, and Zeynab Fadhil reportedly claimed that she was abroad at the time of the killings.
Liqa’ Qamar was sentenced to death on 6 February 2006 by the CCCI, for a kidnapping which reportedly took place in 2005. Her husband is said to have been detained and accused of the same crime. No further details are available.
All four women are held at Baghdad’s al-Kadhimiya Prison. Two have young children with them: Zeynab Fadhil her three-year-old daughter, Liqa’ Qamar her one-year-old daughter, who was born in prison.
Send your protest to Iraq’s Justice minister: Hashim al Shilbi:
head-minister@iraqi-justice.org.