A/HRC/28/68/Add.1 Iraq JUA 17/01/2014 Case No. IRQ 1/2014 State Reply: None to date Allegations concerning the cases of Messrs. Bara’ Ibrahim Muhammad and Taysir Jassim Muhammad, who are at risk of imminent execution. 264. The Special Rapporteur regrets that the Government of Iraq has not replied to the present communication, thereby failing to cooperate with the mandate issued by the Human Rights Council in its resolution 25/13, and to comply with its obligation, under international customary law, to investigate, prosecute and punish all acts of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, as codified, inter alia, in the Convention against Torture (CAT). 265. As observed by the Special Rapporteur in his 2012-report to the General Assembly (A/67/279), there is evidence of an evolving standard within international bodies and a robust State practice to frame the debate about the legality of the death penalty within the context of the fundamental concepts of human dignity and the prohibition of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. This evolving standard, along with the resulting illegality of the death penalty under such prohibition, is developing into a norm of customary law, if it has not already done so (para. 74). The Special Rapporteur calls upon all States to reconsider whether the use of the death penalty per se respects the inherent dignity of the human person, causes severe mental and physical pain or suffering and constitutes a violation of the prohibition of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment (para. 79). 266. In the absence of information to the contrary, the Rapporteur concludes that the Government of Iraq has failed to exclude evidence obtained under torture or ill-treatment, has acted in discordance with article 15 of the CAT, and violated their right to be free from torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment as provided by articles 1 and 16 or the CAT. 267. It has come to the attention of the Special Rapporteur that, as of the drafting of this report, the execution of Messrs. Bara’ Ibrahim Muhammad and Taysir Jassim Muhammad has not taken place. The Rapporteur strongly urges the Government of the Iraq to refrain from executing Messrs. Bara’ Ibrahim Muhammad and Taysir Jassim Muhammad, as well as to refrain from, and abolish, the practice of executions. Israel (a) JAL 06/05/2014 Case No. ISR 1/2014 State Reply: None to date Allegations concerning the ill-treatment and torture of Palestinian children in Israeli custody. 268. The Special Rapporteur regrets that the Government of Israel has not replied to the present communication, thereby failing to cooperate with the mandate issued by the Human Rights Council in its resolution 25/13, and to comply with its obligation, under international customary law, to investigate, prosecute and punish all acts of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, as codified, inter alia, in the Convention against Torture (CAT). 269. The allegation letter referred to a pattern of physical and mental mistreatment of under-age Palestinian boys detained by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), and included the cases of three children, aged 17, 16 and 14, whose names were withheld because of their age. In each case, IDF members had applied violence to the boys in the course of their detention as well as in forcing them to confess to throwing stones at settlers’ vehicles and, in one case, throwing Molotov cocktails and stones in the course of demonstrations. One of 46