Iraq Hangs 36 Men Convicted Over IS Massacre

Iraq has hanged 36 men convicted over the massacre in 2014 by Sunni jihadis and allied militants of hundreds of military recruits, officials said.
The men had been found guilty of involvement in the Speicher massacre, named after a base near Tikrit where up to 1,700 recruits were kidnapped before being killed. The Islamic State group claimed responsibility.
Abdelhassan Dawood, a spokesman for the governor’s office in Dhiqar, the province of which Nasiriyah is the capital, said on Sunday:

“The executions of 36 convicted over the Speicher crime were carried out this morning in Nasiriyah prison. The governor of Dhiqar, Yahya al-Nasseri, and the justice minister, Haidar al-Zamili, were present to oversee the executions.”
He added: “They were transferred to Nasiriyah last week after the president approved the executions,” referring to the necessary green light from Fuad Masum.

Following the deaths last month of more than 300 people in the worst ever single bomb attack to strike Baghdad, the prime minister, Haider al-Abadi, had said he wanted to expedite the execution of inmates sentenced to death in terrorism cases, reports The Guardian.
The Dhiqar governor confirmed that the executions were carried out by hanging. His spokesman said that about 400 of the Speicher massacre victims were from the Dhiqar province, which is predominantly Shia and located in Iraq’s south.