the sectarian government of Baghdad

"Amnesty International on Friday condemned the "alarming" increase in executions in Iraq, which has put at least 70 people to death this year, and urged Baghdad to stop using the death penalty.  "The killing of Abd Hmoud is part of an alarming escalation in executions in Iraq and we fear others may soon face the same fate," Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, Amnesty's Middle East and North Africa deputy director, said in a statement."