Iraq hands 6-year sentences to doctors who treated wounded ISIS fighters

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – On Wednesday, Baghdad’s Central Criminal Court issued a six-year prison sentence for three doctors found guilty of treating wounded Islamic State fighters in the city of Baiji while under the control of the extremist group.

A statement from the Supreme Judicial Council’s media center claimed that those accused “admitted at the initial investigation stage that they were doctors and had worked with the terrorist group ISIS and have treated the terrorist group’s wounded militants in a house in Baiji.”

“The court found sufficient evidence to sentence them to a six-year prison term, in accordance with the provisions of Article 4 / 2 of the Anti-Terrorism Law No. 13 of 2005,” it added.

In the past, human rights groups have faulted the Iraqi government for not following international laws of war by “failing to distinguish between the culpability of doctors who protected lives under ISIS rule and those responsible for crimes against humanity,” as Human Rights Watch said in a 2017 report.

In 2014, Islamic State militants occupied the city of Baiji, some 245 km (150 miles) north of Baghdad, following their surprise takeover of the northern city of Mosul.

Iraq declared victory over the terrorist group in December 2017, but its sleeper cells continue to launch regular attacks, including bombings, kidnappings, and ambushes against Iraqi security forces, Kurdish forces, and civilians in areas long liberated from its control.

On Sunday night, members of the group launched an insurgent attack in Iraq’s Diyala province, killing two members of the Iraqi Army and one Shia Hashd al-Shaabi militia, a local security source said.

Read More: ISIS launches attack on Iraqi Army, PMF bases in Iraq’s Diyala: Security

The attack took place in the vicinity of Khanaqin, a disputed Kurdish town, where the Iraqi army soldiers and Shia militia, known as the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), are stationed.

“The attack killed one member from the Iraqi army and another one from the PMF, while injuring two more from both sides,” the security source said on condition of anonymity.

Local officials in the Kurdistan Region and Iraq have repeatedly expressed their concerns about the increasing number of the group’s attacks in the country, calling for further military and security cooperation with the international community.

The recent Islamic State attacks come at a time where Iraq and the Kurdistan Region are trying to contain the spread of the coronavirus epidemic in the country, officially known as COVID-19.

Editing by John J. Catherine