Kirkuk court issues 10-year sentence to child suicide bomber

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan24) – A Kirkuk court on Wednesday sentenced the now infamous teenage would-be suicide bomber who was caught in August 2016 to 10 years of imprisonment.

An unnamed source in the court of Kirkuk said the boy, whose arrest video went viral last year, was issued a 10-year verdict for entering the city of Kirkuk while wearing a suicide vest with the intention of detonating it in the neighborhood of Tis’een.

At the time, the General Director of Kirkuk Police Forces Khattab Omar said the teenager was sent by the Islamic State (IS).

The boy was born in Mosul in 2001 and was only 14-years-old at the time of the incident.

In their interview with Al-Sumaria, the source claimed the verdict was “issued after the boy’s conviction by the court in accordance with Article IV of the anti-terrorism law,” suggesting the teen will be transferred to a prison in Baghdad.

He was caught in the business district, near mosques and government buildings, and footage of the security forces dismantling the belt without causing any casualties spread worldwide.

Masrour Aswad, a member of the High Commission of Human Rights in Iraq, noted IS had taken advantage of teenagers as bombers because they are easily manipulated, directing them toward security forces or civilians’ positions.

Below is footage of his capture in 2016.

Editing by Karzan Sulaivany