Written question asked by Alistair Carmichael (Liberal Democrat) on Monday, 16 March 2009, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 18 March 2009. It was answered by Bill Rammell (Labour) on Monday, 23 March 2009 on behalf of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

Iraq: Capital Punishment

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representations his Department has made to the Iraqi government on the reinstatement of the death penalty in Iraq in 2004.

Answer: The UK opposes the death penalty in all circumstances as a matter of principle. We continue to make our position on capital punishment clear to the Iraqi government at every opportunity both bilaterally and with the support of our EU partners. As recently as 8 March 2009 the UK joined other EU member states in supporting a démarche, delivered by the current Czech EU presidency to Iraqi vice-President Tareeq al-Hashemi and to the head of the Iraqi prime minister's office on the proposed resumption of executions in Iraq. We strongly supported the resolutions adopted by the UN General Assembly in December 2007 (A/Res/62/149) and November 2008 (A/Res/63/168) which called upon all states that maintain the death penalty to establish a moratorium on executions with a view to abolition. The resolutions expressed the conviction of the majority of UN members that the use of the death penalty undermines human dignity; recalled that there is no conclusive evidence of its deterrent value; and noted that any miscarriage or failure of justice in the implementation of the death penalty is irreversible and irreparable.

Secondary information