Iraq hanged 13 insurgents on Thursday, marking the first time militants have been executed in the country since the US-led invasion ousted Iraqi president Saddam Hussein nearly three years ago.
The Cabinet announcement listed the name of only one of those hanged, Shukair Farid, a former policeman in the northern city of Mosul, who allegedly confessed that he had worked with Syrians to enlist fellow Iraqis to carry out assassinations against police and civilians.
"The competent authorities have today carried out the death sentences of 13 terrorists," the Cabinet statement said.
It said Farid had "confessed that foreigners recruited him to spread the fear through killings and abductions."
Capital punishment was suspended during the formal US occupation, which ended in June 2004, and the Iraqis reinstated the penalty two months later for those found guilty of murder, endangering national security and distributing drugs, saying it was necessary to help put down the persistent insurgency.
The authorities also wanted to have the option of executing Saddam if he is convicted of crimes committed by his regime. Under the former president, 114 offenses were punishable by death.
Saddam and seven co-defendants are on trial now for allegedly massacring more than 140 people in Dujail, north of Baghdad, after an alleged assassination attempt against him in 1982.
In October, Iraqi lawmakers also passed a tough new anti-terrorism law that called for the execution of "those who commit ... terror acts" as well as "those who provoke, plan, finance and all those who enable terrorists to commit these crimes."
In September, Iraq hanged three convicted murderers, the first executions since Saddam was overthrown. They were convicted of killing three police officers, kidnapping and rape.
Death sentences must be approved by the three-member presidential council headed by President Jalal Talabani, who opposes capital punishment. In the September executions and again in the Thursday hangings, Talabani refused to sign the authorization himself but gave his two vice presidents the authority.
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