The United Nations' special envoy has urged Iraq to reconsider carrying out the first executions since the 2003 overthrow of former dictator Saddam Hussein.
Ashraf Qazi, special representative of UN secretary general Kofi Annan, said he 'deeply regrets' the decision of an Iraqi government 'in the process of transition' to reinstate the death penalty.
The UN said that vice President, Adel Abdel Mehdi, had signed a decree on Wednesday authorising the execution of three men sentenced to death for kidnapping policemen and raping Iraqi women.
The men, suspected members of Al-Qaeda-linked group Ansar al-Sunna, were sentenced to death in May. A verdict that was later approved by the Supreme Council for Justice, the highest judicial authority in Iraq.
Qazi pointed out in his statement, released by the New York office of the UN Mission for Iraq, that the Human Rights Commission in Geneva had 'condemned the application of the death penalty' in April 2005.
The executions would be Iraq's first since capital punishment was suspended by the US-led occupation authority following the 2003 invasion.
