Iraq court sentences six Turkish women to death for IS membership

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan 24) – A court in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad on Monday handed sentences to seven Turkish women for their membership in the Islamic State (IS), a judicial source revealed.

Six of the women were given the death penalty while the seventh was issued a life sentence, all for their role in aiding members of IS, AFP reported.  

Officials in Turkey have not issued a comment regarding the sentencing of the Turkish nationals.

Addressing the court, the women revealed they had entered the country to join their husbands who were fighting for IS.

According to the judicial source, the seven Turkish women had turned themselves in to Kurdish Peshmerga forces after they escaped Tal Afar (west of Mosul), one of the extremist group’s last strongholds to fall to Iraqi security forces last year.

Baghdad is currently conducting trials for hundreds of foreign women and children who have been detained by Iraqi troops during military operations to liberate the country from IS over the past year.

Following the emergence of IS in Iraq and Syria in 2014, thousands of foreign nationals joined the militant group. Accompanying them were women who came from different parts of the world.

Iraq declared victory over IS in December 2017 after years of fierce fighting against the group. Since then, Iraqi courts have begun prosecuting foreign IS militants.

According to Iraq’s counterterrorism law, aiding or membership to the extremist group carries the penalty of life in prison or death.

In February, An Iraqi criminal court sentenced 15 Turkish women to death after finding them guilty of having links to IS.

Another Turkish woman, accused of membership in the extremist group, was given a life sentence, a statement issued by the court at the time informed.