BAGHDAD, September 1, 2009 (AFP) - Iraq has at least 1,000 people under sentence of death and is continuing to hang dozens of convicts, Amnesty International said in a critical report on Tuesday, noting that the democratically-elected government had failed to tackle the issue.

The human rights watchdog cited several recent examples of executions which it said showed that use of the death penalty was widespread and lacking in transparency, despite the overthrow of dictator Saddam Hussein six years ago.

"In July 2009, at least 1,000 prisoners were believed to be on death row, including about 150 prisoners who had exhausted all means of appeal or clemency," the report said.

"On May 3, 2009 the Iraqi authorities were reported to have carried out 12 executions," Amnesty said, noting the Office of the UN High Commissioner for

Human Rights then called for an Iraqi moratorium and review of death sentences.

"Despite this important intervention, the Iraqi authorities are reported to have carried out 19 more executions -- hanging 18 men and one woman on June 19," the report added.

Iraq's government has argued that use of the death penalty is needed to reduce widespread violence in the country, but there was no official reaction to the Amnesty report.

A government source, however, indicated to AFP that the number of executions being carried out may be much higher than previously thought.

"There is an average of 10 executions per week because of the security situation" said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

"More than 800 people are awaiting the death penalty."

A police officer at Al-Adalah prison where executions are carried out said "10 to 15 executions are carried out every seven to eight days, the majority of them terrorists."

Amnesty said that continued violence in Iraq -- 456 people were killed in unrest last month, a 13-month high -- showed the death penalty was an ineffective deterrent in the face of insurgents.

"Armed groups have continued to carry out bomb attacks killing large numbers of civilians, including members of ethnic and religious minority groups," the report said.

"These attacks -- many of which have been carried out by suicide bombers, who by their very nature, are unlikely to be deterred by the prospect of the death penalty -- recently increased in the run-up to and following the June 30 deadline for the pullout of US troops from Iraq's cities and towns," it added.

Iraq's Human Rights Minister Wejdan Mikhail was heavily criticised in the report, titled: "A thousand people face the death penalty in Iraq."

"Amnesty International is disappointed that a minister whose portfolio is to advance the cause of human rights protection should advocate the death penalty," it said, urging her to "eradicate executions as a matter of urgency."

Amnesty International spokeswoman Nicole Chouery added: "This is a matter we have been raising since 2004, when the death penalty was reimposed (when an interim Iraqi government took charge). The international inclination has been towards an abolition of the death penalty. The contrary is happening in Iraq."