Iraq hands death penalty to 9 people for involvement in Speicher Massacre

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Iraqi judicial authorities announced on Sunday that the Central Criminal Court issued death sentences for nine people who were charged for involvement in the Speicher Massacre.

After occupying much of northern and western of Iraq, ISIS shocked the nation on June 12, 2014, by killing over 1,500 cadets and other personnel at Camp Speicher, being used then as a military academy near Salahuddin province's Tikrit.

In video footage released online by the group, gunmen were seen executing captives with a single, close-range shot to the head before dumping their bodies into the Tigris River or into shallow graves.

The Iraqi judiciary claimed in a statement that the suspects who were sentenced to death "admitted they had participated" in perpetrating the massacre.

In August 2016, Iraqi authorities executed 36 out of 50 ISIS affiliates in a single day for perpetrating the mass murder.

It is not known exactly how many suspects in the massacre are in Iraqi prisons now, or how many are likely to face the death penalty.

Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi has previously pledged to establish a museum to commemorate the victims of the Speicher Massacre.