In new hostage video, Islamic State demands release of female prisoners in Iraq

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The Islamic State (IS) has demanded the release of all Sunni female prisoners in Iraqi jails in a recent hostage video published to their online forums.

The extremist group has given Baghdad a three-day deadline to free the women before it executes six men who appear in the hostage video, the Associated Press reported on Saturday.

The men in the video identify themselves as Iraqi police officers and militiamen. The footage was published one week after IS announced the kidnapping of 17 members of Iraq’s Iran-backed Hashd al-Shaabi militia, AP reports.

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

In April, an Iraqi court sentenced 19 women holding Russian nationality to life imprisonment after handing death sentences to seven Turkish women for their membership to IS.

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

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

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has faced criticism in recent weeks as the group has re-emerged in previously liberated areas where they resort to guerilla-style tactics including random bombings, assassinations, and kidnappings.