Iraq says executes 13 men convicted of murder

BAGHDAD, Dec 19 (Reuters) Iraq said it executed 13 men in Baghdad today who had been convicted of murder, rape and torture.

The government said in a statement that one of the men executed had confessed to killing 10 people while another admitted he had killed four members of the same family.

''They were executed after the criminal terrorists were convicted in Iraqi courts for carrying out acts of murder and rape and burning bodies,'' the government said.

The government press office distributed a brief film of men in green overalls with black hoods covering their heads and their hands bound behind their backs. They shuffled in a line in front of an outdoor wall with their backs to the camera.

Iraq executed 27 men in September, who it said were criminals convicted of rape and murder.

Traditionally, under a penal system dating to the time of British rule, Iraq executes convicts by hanging and officials said last year this was the case when executions resumed for the first time since former President Saddam Hussein as ousted by a US-led invasion force in 2003.

The United Nations and European states have criticised the Iraqi government for re-introducing capital punishment. The United States has defended the US-backed government's right to use the death penalty.

Some of the more than 1,200 people convicted of insurgent activity by the US-sponsored Central Criminal Court of Iraq have been sentenced to death. Precise figures on convictions and executions were not immediately available.

REUTERS SY PM2140