Iraqi court sentences wife of murdered IS leader to death for crimes against Yazidi women

A statement from the Iraqi Judicial Council said the Karkh Criminal Court sentenced the woman for “holding Yazidi women in her house” and facilitating their abduction by “the terrorist ISIS gangs in Sinjar district.” It also said the verdict was in accordance with Iraq’s anti-terrorism law and the “Yazidi survivors law.”

The statement did not name the defendant, but two court officials identified her as Asma Mohammed, who was arrested in Turkey in 2018. An Iraqi security official told The Associated Press on Wednesday that she was handed over to Iraqi authorities last year. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the case publicly.

Survivors of IS attacks in Iraq complain that those responsible are not being held accountable. They criticize the decision, taken at the request of the Iraqi government, to stop the UN investigation into IS crimes, which include the alleged use of chemical weapons.

At the same time, human rights groups have raised concerns about the lack of due process in the trials of suspected IS members in Iraq, particularly criticising the mass executions of terrorists. Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have said the verdicts are often obtained under torture and have called on Iraq to abolish the death penalty.

On June 29, 2014, al-Baghdadi, one of the most ruthless and effective jihadist leaders of modern times, declared the militant group’s caliphate across large parts of Iraq and Syria. In 2019, he was killed in a US strike in Syria, dealing a major blow to the militant group. It has now lost all the territory it previously controlled, although some of its cells continue to carry out attacks.