The wife of the Daesh terrorist group's slain leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi received a death sentence for her complicity in crimes committed against Yazidi women captured by the terrorists in Iraq.
The ruling comes weeks before the 10-year mark since Daesh launched a series of attacks against the Yazidi religious minority in the northern Iraqi region of Sinjar in early August 2014, killing and capturing thousands - including women and girls who were subjected to human trafficking and sexual abuse. The United Nations said the campaign against the Yazidis amounted to genocide.
A statement by Iraq’s judicial council said the Karkh Criminal Court sentenced the woman for "detaining Yazidi women in her home” and facilitating their kidnapping by "the terrorist Daesh gangs in Sinjar district.” It also said the ruling was issued in accordance with Iraq’s anti-terrorism law and its "Yazidi survivors law."
The statement did not name the defendant, but two court officials identified her as Asma Mohammed, who was arrested in 2018 in Türkiye. An Iraqi security official told The Associated Press Wednesday 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 the Daesh attacks in Iraq have complained of a lack of accountability and have criticized the decision - made at the request of the Iraqi government - to wind down a U.N. probe into Daesh crimes, including the alleged use of chemical weapons.
At the same time, human rights groups have raised concerns about the lack of due process in trials of alleged Daesh members in Iraq and have particularly criticized mass executions of those convicted on terrorism charges. Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have said the convictions are often extracted under torture and urged Iraq to abolish the death penalty.
In 2019, Baghdadi was killed in a U.S. raid in Syria, dealing a major blow to the terrorist group which has now lost its hold on all the areas it previously controlled though some of its cells continue to carry out attacks.
