A court in Iraq sentenced one of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi’s wives to death after she was charged with being allegedly complicit in crimes committed by the Islamic State against Yazidi women, Iraq’s judiciary announced on July 10th.
The criminal court in Baghdad imposed a death sentence on the wife of terrorist criminal Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi for collaborating with ISIS and imprisoning Yezidi women in her home. pic.twitter.com/usnl3DnW5l
— Zidan Ismail (@zidan_yezidi) July 10, 2024
The ruling came just weeks before the ten-year mark since the Islamist militant group 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 sexual abuse and human trafficking. The United Nations said the Islamic State’s campaign against the Yazidis amounted to genocide.
Iraq’s judicial council released a statement saying that the Karkh Criminal Court sentenced the woman for “detaining Yazidi women in her home” and facilitating their kidnappings by “the terrorist (Islamic State group) gangs in Sinjar district.” It also said the ruling was issued per Iraq’s anti-terrorism law and its “Yazidi survivors law.”
Women are much more cruel then men once if they on wrong path
— (@VairagiUvaaCH) July 13, 2024
Although the statement did not name the defendant, two court officials identified her as Asma Mohammed, who was arrested in 2018 in Turkey and was later extradited. A senior Iraqi official also confirmed that another wife of al-Baghdadi and his daughter, who were also extradited from Turkey to Iraq, was sentenced to life imprisonment.
Survivors of IS attacks in Iraq have complained of a lack of accountability and criticized the decision made at the request of the Iraqi government to wind down a United Nations probe into crimes committed by the Islamic State, including the alleged use of chemical weapons.
Islam makes people do monstrous things
— Real Palestinian (@shimrat1onal) July 11, 2024
At the same time, human rights organizations have raised concerns about the lack of due process in trials of alleged IS members in Iraq and have particularly criticized the mass execution of those convicted on terrorism charges. Groups such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have said the confessions are often extracted under torture and urged Iraq to abolish the death penalty.
Al-Baghdadi, known as one of the most ruthlessly effective jihadist leaders of modern times, declared the militant group’s caliphate in large swaths of Iraq and Syria in 2014. He was killed in a US raid in Syria in 2019, dealing a significant blow to the Islamic State. While the terrorist group has lost its hold on all the areas it previously controlled, some of its cells in other parts of the globe continue to carry out attacks.
