Iraq: More than 300 sentenced to death for IS links
(Sourced from PTI)
Iraqi courts have sentenced to death a total of more than 300 people, including dozens of foreigners, for belonging to the Islamic State terror group (IS), judicial sources said today. The suspects are being tried by two courts, one near the former jihadi stronghold of Mosul, in northern Iraq, and another in Baghdad which is dealing notably with foreigners and women.
Since January in Baghdad, 97 foreign nationals have been condemned to death and 185 to life in prison. Most of the women sentenced were from Turkey and republics of the former Soviet Union. In January, an Iraqi court condemned a German woman to death after finding her guilty of belonging to IS while on Tuesday, a French woman was sentenced to life in prison.
At the court in Tel Keif near Mosul, 212 people have been sentenced to death, 150 to life in prison and 341 to other jails terms, Supreme Judicial Council spokesman Abdel Sattar Bayraqdar said in a statement. "It has been proven that they carried out criminal actions at public hearings conducted in accordance with law during which the convicts' rights were guaranteed," he said.
Iraq declared victory in December against IS which at one point controlled a third of the country. The Justice Ministry said 11 people convicted of terrorism-related charges had been executed in Iraq, which according to New York-based Human Rights Watch is world's number four executioner.
