ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Four Islamic State (ISIS) fighters captured by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and were sentenced to death by an Iraqi court on Sunday. Iraq is preparing cases against nearly 900 suspected jihadists.
“The main commission in the Karkh Criminal Court looked into the case of four convicts for belonging to Daesh terrorist gangs who carried criminal acts that targeted innocent civilians with the aim of destabilizing the security and stability inside Iraq and Syria,” read a statement from Iraq’s Supreme Judicial Council, using the Arabic acronym for ISIS.
They were charged under Iraq’s Anti-Terrorism Law (No. 13 of 2005) and sentenced to death by hanging.
These are the first individuals captured in Syria to be sentenced by Iraq’s justice system.
It follows an earlier death sentence handed down on Thursday by a federal court in Baghdad of an ISIS fighter found guilty of joining the group’s sniper battalion.
The Karkh Investigation Court said one French national was cleared of all charges after their guilt could not be established. The individual was among 13 French nationals handed over to Iraqi authorities by the SDF accused of ISIS membership.
France, like several western countries, has refused to take back its citizens captured in Iraq and Syria suspected of supporting ISIS. Iraq volunteered to prosecute foreign nationals in exchange for billions of dollars to pay for its reconstruction.
Human rights organizations including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have condemned Iraq’s fast-track courts, claiming they fail to exercise due process and extract forced confessions.
Iraq is among the world’s top five executioners, according to a recent Amnesty report.