Hours after the Justice Ministry statement, the UN mission to Iraq, known as UNAMI, renewed its call "to adopt a moratorium on the implementation of all death sentences," in pursuant to UN General Assembly resolutions "with a view to the eventual abolition of the death penalty."
In 2011, Iraq was ranked fourth among the world's top five executioners after China, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the U.S., according to the London-based group Amnesty International. So far, it has executed 132 people this year.
Later Thursday, police said a bomb exploded in a commercial street in western Baghdad, killing three people and wounding eight others.
Gunmen also shot dead the owner of neighborhood generator in Baghdad's neighborhood of Ghazaliyah, they said. And in another attack, gunmen killed the owner of a car parts shop in eastern Baghdad, shooting him repeatedly with automatic rifles in front of his business.
Hospital officials confirmed the casualty figures. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to talk to media.
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Associated Press Writer Sameer N. Yacoub contributed.