113 executions in Iraq so far this year

Eleven prison inmates were executed in Iraq Sunday despite an international outcry opposed to the state killings, the United Nations said. The government has executed 113 people so far this year, leading U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay to call the situation "terrifying." The British Broadcasting Corp. reported police routinely force confessions out of unwilling suspects, leading to their conviction. Pillay said not a single death row pardon has been issued. Death sentences were stopped following the 2003 U.S.-led invasion that deposed Saddam Hussein, but were reinstated a year later after the transition government said capital punishment was needed as a deterrent for would-be insurgents.