A UN human rights watchdog on Thursday urged Iraq to rein in its rampant use of the death penalty and to crack down on widespread abuses including torture and rape in detention.

The UN Human Rights Committee voiced alarm in a report over "the great number of cases in which the death penalty is imposed and the frequency of its application" in Iraq.

Iraq has executed some 240 people over the past two years and around 1,700 remain on death row, committee member Yuval Shany said.

He added that the team of 18 independent experts, which oversees global rules on civil and political rights, had not received any estimates of how many executions were being carried out by the Islamic State group that controls large swathes of Iraq.

The committee, which last reviewed Iraq's rights record 18 years ago, urged the country to consider abolishing the death penalty or at least ensure only the most serious crimes were punishable by death.

It also lamented that some crimes punishable by death are explicitly denied access to pardon, and that death sentences have allegedly been handed down based on confessions obtained through torture.

The experts, who spent two days last month questioning an Iraqi delegation, also decried allegations that Iraqi police "often" used torture to elicit confessions, and warned that women in detention were particularly at risk.

"Many women deprived of liberty, particularly women detained on terrorism related charges, have been subjected to rape and sexual assault," the report said, also pointing to allegations that "a number of deaths in custody were the result of torture or ill-treatment."

The committee said Iraq must change its laws to clearly define torture and ensure that it is banned.

Outside of detention, violence against women "remains a serious problem", the committee warned, pointing to widespread domestic violence, marital rape and so-called honour killings.

It urged Baghdad to change laws "establishing 'honourable motives' as a mitigating circumstance for murder and allowing for the exoneration of rapists if they marry their victim."

The experts meanwhile said they were aware that government forces did not exercise control over the whole of the country's territory -- with IS jihadists committing horrendous crimes in areas under their grip.

But that did not relieve the authorities of their obligation to refrain from committing abuses themselves, the committee said.

In their fight against IS, Iraqi security forces have allegedly committed a range of violations including extrajudicial killings, torture and indiscriminate attacks, it added.

Former Iraq environment minister jailed for corruption
Baghdad (AFP) Nov 5, 2015 - A former Iraqi environment minister has been sentenced to two years in prison for corruption and ordered to pay some $280,000 to the state, the judiciary said Thursday.

Sargon Lazar Slewa, a Christian who served in former premier Nuri al-Maliki's government, was tried on charges "related to corruption," a judicial statement said.

The statement did not give details on Slewa's actions, or say when he was detained. He served as a minister during Maliki's second term in office, which ended in 2014.

Widespread public anger over corruption and poor services led to weeks of protests earlier this year, pushing Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi to announce a series of reforms aimed at streamlining the government and combatting graft.

But the endemic nature of corruption in Iraq and the fact that officials are limiting their own privileges by implementing some changes are major obstacles to reform.

And while officials such as Slewa are periodically punished for graft, more powerful politicians who have allegedly engaged in far greater corruption remain at large.