FM to be summoned over Arabia’s execution of 40 Iraqis – Nujaifi

KARBALA / IraqiNews.com: Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari will be summoned to explain reports that spoke of Saudi Arabia’s decapitation of 40 Iraqis, parliament speaker Osama al-Nujaifi said on Saturday. “The Council of Representatives (parliament) will summon the foreign minister to explain these reports. The Foreign Ministry and other organizations concerned will clarify this issue so that we may take the proper measures,” Nujaifi said during a symposium he held with officials in Karbala province today (Jan. 8). Nujaifi’s statements came in response to questions by Karbala Provincial Council member Abbas Hassani, who called for condemning the executions and stopping prisoners swap with Saudi Arabia pending clarifications. “Saudis have reportedly beheaded Iraqis who lost their way while we repatriate Saudi terrorists to their country after they killed our sons in cold blood,” Hassani, who chairs the Karbala Provincial Council’s Reconstruction & Strategic Planning Committee, added. The reports sparked wide-scale reactions on the Iraqi streets and political circles. The Iraqi human rights ministry called last week for launching an international probe into the reported beheadings, accusing Riyadh of decapitating dozens of Iraqi nationals without fair trials. The ministry also urged the international community to intervene over the issue of hundreds of Iraqis detained in Saudi prisons. Saudi Arabia applies a strict law based on the Islamic sharia. It applies the death penalty in public with a sword for a wide range of offenses. Court proceedings fall far short of international standards for fair trial. Defendants are rarely allowed formal representation by a lawyer, and in many cases are not informed of the progress of legal proceedings against them. Prisoners under sentence of death may not be informed of the date of execution until the morning when they are taken out and beheaded. They may be convicted solely on the basis of confessions obtained under duress or deception. The holy Shiite city of Karbala lies 108 km south of Baghdad. AmR (S)/SR 118