Iraq issues first death sentences following announcement of IS defeat

Iraqi judicial authorities on Tuesday announced the issuance of sentences to execute four Iraqis who carried out attacks on behalf of the Islamic State (IS) in Baghdad.

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan 24) – Iraqi judicial authorities on Tuesday announced the issuance of sentences to execute four Iraqis who carried out attacks on behalf of the Islamic State (IS) in Baghdad.

The sentences are the first issued by the Iraqi government since Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi’s “final victory” speech following the defeat of the extremist group in a campaign west of the country.

Abdul Sattar Berqdar, a spokesperson for the Supreme Judicial Council of Iraq, said the Iraqi Central Criminal Court issued “death sentences by hanging against four terrorists.”

He added that the convicted stood before a judge and confessed to carrying out attacks in Baghdad, most notably a car bomb in the Sunni-majority Yarmouk neighborhood in 2015.

The number of Iraqis detained by security forces for their allegiance to IS remains unknown. It is also unclear if they will face a similar fate for their crimes.

The move may raise concerns from international humanitarian organizations, including the European Union, who have repeatedly called on Baghdad to abolish its death penalty.

According to a 76-page report by Human Rights Watch (HRW) earlier this month, the organization found “serious legal shortcomings that undermine efforts to bring [IS] fighters, members, and affiliates to justice.”

Thousands of IS suspects have been captured, imprisoned, and put on trial as the extremist group’s influence in Iraq and Syria has slowly diminished since its emergence in 2014.

Over 200 suspects have been sentenced, and more than 92 executed in Iraq, the HRW reported.

In August 2017, the Iraqi Central Criminal Court sentenced 27 people to death convicted of killing 1,700 Iraqi soldiers at the US Camp Speicher base near the central city of Tikrit.