Iraq sentences Turkish woman to death for joining IS

An Iraqi court has sentenced a Turkish woman to death by hanging for joining the Islamic State (IS), according to a spokesperson for the criminal court in Baghdad.

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan 24) – An Iraqi court has sentenced a Turkish woman to death by hanging for joining the Islamic State (IS), according to a spokesperson for the criminal court in Baghdad.

Along with the Turkish woman, ten more women from different nationalities were sentenced to life in prison said Judge Abdul-Sattar al-Bairaqdar in a statement released on Monday. He added that all verdicts could be appealed.

“The court has issued ten verdicts of life in prison against ten women after convicting them of terrorism, and sentenced to death by hanging another terrorist who holds Turkish citizenship,” the statement read.

The women are reportedly all former IS wives, aged between 20 and 50 years of age, and were all arrested in Mosul and Tal Afar in northern Iraq. 

The United Nations have previously expressed their concerns regarding mass executions taking place in Iraq.

The United Nations Human Rights office is “appalled” at the execution of 38 prisoners in Iraq, said a UN spokesperson Elizabeth Throssell earlier in December, a day after the collective hangings at a prison in the southern Iraqi city of Nasiriyah.

“We are deeply shocked and appalled at the mass execution,” Throssell said during a regular UN briefing in Geneva.

In September, Baghdad hanged 42 prisoners in a single day, and the UN has known of 106 executions in 2017, the spokesperson added.

Iraqi forces have captured numerous IS members over the three years as they fought against the jihadist group. The government has not revealed the number of prisoners, but reports indicate that there are hundreds of them, many of whom are awaiting court decisions.

Editing by Nadia Riva