An Iraqi court sentenced seven women on terrorism charges. Three Azerbaijani women and a Kyrgyz woman were given death sentences. Two Russian women and a French woman were given life sentences for their involvement with ISIS/Daesh militants.

At least 10 people were killed, and five were wounded:

An attack on troops in Rutba left a number of casualties.

Seven militants were killed during operations in Anbar and Salah ad Din province.

In Imam Weis, security forces killed the leader of a local ISIS group.

Two militants were killed when the bomb they were attempting to plant in Hawi exploded.

The United States government is planning on moving an American citizen, suspected of being an ISIS member, to a third country.
• Kurdish Brothers Killed in Turkish Airstrike Among Four Killed in Iraq – April 14th, 2018 </s> The French foreign ministry said on Monday it was opposed in principle to the death penalty, but also said it accepted Iraqi sovereignty as Iraq’s justice ministry sentenced three French citizens to death for their membership of ISIS.

 

“The French embassy in Iraq, in its role as provider of consular protection, is taking the necessary steps to convey its position (against the death penalty) to the Iraq authorities,” the foreign ministry said in a statement.

“France is opposed in principle to the death penalty at all times and in all places,” the foreign ministry said in a statement after the three ISIS members were sentenced on Sunday. They have 30 days to appeal the ruling.



 The ministry added that it respected the sovereignty of the Iraq authorities and that ISIS members “had to answer for their crimes”, which carry the death penalty in Iraq. </s> An Iraqi court sentenced three French citizens to death on Sunday after they were found guilty of joining Islamic State (Isis), a court official said.

Captured in Syria by a US-backed force fighting the jihadists, they are the first French Isis members to receive death sentences in Iraq, where they were transferred for trial.

Named as Kevin Gonot, Leonard Lopez and Salim Machou, they have 30 days to appeal.

Iraq has taken custody of thousands of jihadists repatriated in recent months from neighbouring Syria, where they were caught by the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces during the battle against Isis.

Iraqi courts have placed hundreds of foreigners on trial, condemning many to life in prison and others to death, although no foreign Isis members have yet been executed.

Those sentenced on Sunday were among 12 French citizens who were caught in Syria and transferred to Iraqi custody in February.

Rights groups including Human Rights Watch have criticised Iraq’s anti-terror trials, which they say often rely on circumstantial evidence or confessions obtained under torture.

The country remains in the top five “executioner” nations in the world, according to an Amnesty International report in April.

Analysts have also warned that prisons in Iraq have in the past acted as “academies” for future jihadists, including Isis leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. </s> Three French men have been sentenced to death by an Iraqi court after being found guilty of joining ISIS .

Kevin Gonot, Leonard Lopez and Salim Machou are the first French nationals to receive death sentences in Iraq.

They were among 12 other French citizens being prosecuted by the court over their alleged allegiance to the terrorist organisation.

"They were sentenced to execution after it was proven that they were members of the terrorist Islamic State organisation," said one court official, who declined to be named as he was not authorised to speak to the media.

The trio were captured in Syria by the Syrian Democratic Forces and have 30 days to appeal.

Iraq has taken in thousands of jihadists repatriated from Syria after they were captured by the US-backed force during the battle to capture ISIS' so-called "caliphate".

Hundreds were put on trial, with many of those convicted either sentenced to life in prison or death.

But it is the first time Iraq - among the five top 'executioner' nations in the world - convicts a French citizen to death.

It is understood it is only the second time the court sentences a foreigner to death.

Iraq’s Central Criminal Court in May revealed details of how it sentenced Tarek Jadaoun, 30, also known as Abu Hamza al-Beljiki, for being a senior fighter for the terrorist group.

He joined the organisation in 2014 before being arrested in Mosul, once ISIS' Iraqi stronghold, last summer.

“Al-Beljiki, who is of Moroccan origin, is one of the most wanted foreign fighters who fought on behalf of the terrorist organisation in Syria and Iraq,” Judge Abdul-Sattar al-Birqdar, the spokesman for the Supreme Judicial Council, said in a statement.

Human Rights Watch has criticised the Middle Eastern country's anti-terror trials, which it claims are usually only based on circumstantial evidence or confessions obtained through torture.

Tens of thousands of foreigners have travelled to Syria and Iraq to fight for ISIS or its precursor, al Qaeda, since 2003.

While the UN said 40,000 foreigners are believed to have joined the terrorist groups abroad, a King's College study in July found just short of 41,500 from 80 countries were affiliated with ISIS.

Some 5,904 of these were from Western Europe, while the biggest amount, 18,852, came from the Middle East and North Africa. </s> Sixteen Turkish women have been sentenced to death by hanging after having been found guilty of joining ISIS, Iraqi judiciary officials announced Sunday.

“It was proven they belong to the Daesh terrorist group,” Judge Abdul-Sattar al-Birqdar stated, referring to the militant group using its common name in the Middle East, noting the sentences were handed out after the women “confessed to marrying Daesh elements or providing members of the group with logistical aid or helping them carry out terrorist attacks.”

Iraq is currently holding some 500 foreign women, each of whom is either facing or slated to face trial.

Another Turkish female also was handed a death sentence last week for her ISIS participation, while 10 other foreigners were given life behind bars. Last month, a German woman was sentenced to execution, as was a Russian woman last year.

However, Iraqi authorities recently handed over four Russian women to their government after determining during a trial that they were “tricked” into traveling and becoming a part of the hardline group, which was officially defeated in December.

All sentences are subject to appeal.

Nonetheless, the trials and harsh sentences have aroused deep concern among many international human rights groups.

“Iraq’s courts are sentencing women to life in prison and even to death for non-violent crimes,” Human Rights Watch stated. “It is just one indicator of how people viewed as colluding with ISIS are receiving unfair trials. The women have been charged with illegally entering Iraq and, in some cases, aiding, abetting or having membership in ISIS, which carries the penalty of life in prison or death under Iraq’s counterterrorism law.”

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Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, the Iraqi Minister for Labor and Social Affairs, told Fox News last month that all foreign wives will be tried in Iraq, and not in their country of citizenship, to determine what if any level of involvement they had in the fighting. He insisted that they will be given a “fair trial” in their system.

The majority of the foreign wives and children are documented to be from Turkey and Russia. Authorities are still in the process of trying to determine the nationality of many female detainees, who are without proper documentation.

In addition to the 1,500 ISIS wives and children being detained, more than 7,000 foreign ISIS males are being held across Iraq while waiting to face trial. More than 90 have already been executed for their ISIS crimes. </s> An Iraqi court on Monday condemned a fourth French citizen to death for joining ISIS, a day after handing capital punishments to three other Frenchmen.

Mustapha Merzoughi, 37, was sentenced to death by hanging, according to an AFP journalist at the court.

“The evidence and the confession show that you joined ISIS, that you worked in its military branch,” the judge told Merzoughi before handing down his sentence.

In recent months Iraq has taken custody of thousands of extremists including foreigners captured in neighboring Syria by the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) during the battle to destroy the ISIS “caliphate”.

The Iraqi judiciary said earlier in May that it had tried and sentenced more than 500 suspected foreign members of ISIS since the start of 2018.

“I’m not guilty of crimes and killings. I’m guilty of going (to Syria),” Merzoughi, wearing a yellow prison uniform, told the judge.

“I ask for forgiveness from the people of Iraq, Syria, France and the families of the victims.”

 Merzoughi told investigators he had served in the French army from 2000 to 2010, including a tour in Afghanistan in 2009.

In France, he lived in the southwestern city of Toulouse, the hometown of extremist brothers Fabien and Jean-Michel Clain who claimed the deadly 2015 attacks in Paris and were killed fighting in Syria.

Passing through Belgium and then Morocco, the French citizen of Tunisian origin underwent “religious and military training in Aleppo”, in northern Syria.

Fellow French extremist Fodhil Tahar Aouidate also appeared before the court on Monday, but his trial was postponed until June 2 to allow for a medical examination after he alleged he had been beaten in custody.

Aouidate, 32, made a first trip to Syria in 2013 and returned in 2014 to join ISIS, according to the French judiciary.

After 130 people were killed in ISIS’s 2015 Paris attacks, Aouidate appeared in a video saying it was his “great pleasure and joy to see these unbelievers suffer as we suffer here.”

Their trial came a day after an Iraqi court sentenced three French citizens to death for joining ISIS, making them the first French jihadists to be handed capital punishment.

Captured in Syria by the SDF, Kevin Gonot, Leonard Lopez and Salim Machou were transferred to Iraq for trial. They have 30 days to appeal. </s> France has confirmed it would take “the necessary steps” to try to prevent Iraq carrying out the death penalty against three French citizens convicted of fighting with Islamic State.

The French foreign ministry said on Monday: “France is opposed in principle to the death penalty at all times and in all places.”

It said the detained men were receiving consular assistance to ensure they had legal representation ahead of an expected appeal, which they have 30 days to lodge. The three men were sentenced on Sunday.

It added, however, that France “respects the sovereignty of Iraq’s institutions”.

The French government has long insisted its adult citizens captured in Iraq or Syria should face trial locally, refusing to repatriate them despite the fact they are at risk of capital punishment.

The three French Isis members – Kevin Gonot, Leonard Lopez and Salim Machou – were transferred to Iraq for trial after being caught by US-backed forces in Syria.

They were among 13 French nationals caught in eastern Syria and handed to Iraqi authorities in February on suspicion of being members of the group’s feared contingent of foreign fighters.

Iraq has taken custody of thousands of jihadists, and the Iraqi judiciary said recently that it had tried and sentenced more than 500 suspected foreign members of Isis since the start of 2018.

Its courts have condemned many to life in prison and others to death, though none have yet been executed. </s> BAGHDAD — An Iraqi court has sentenced 16 Turkish women to death by hanging for joining the Islamic State, a judiciary spokesman said on Sunday.

Iraq is conducting the trials of hundreds of foreign women who have been detained with hundreds of their children since August by Iraqi forces as Islamic State strongholds crumbled.

The central criminal court issued the sentences "after it was proven they belong to the Daesh terrorist group and after they confessed to marrying Daesh elements or providing members of the group with logistical aid or helping them carry out terrorist attacks," said Judge Abdul-Sattar al-Birqdar, referring to the militant group using an Arabic acronym.

Related: ISIS still has up to 10,000 loyalists in Syria and Iraq, warn experts

All the verdicts are subject to appeal, he told Reuters.

Thousands of foreigners have fought on behalf of Islamic State in Iraq and Syria since at least 2014. Many foreign women came — or were brought — from overseas to join the militants.

More than 1,300 women and children surrendered to Kurdish Peshmerga in August, after government forces expelled the jihadist group from the northern Iraqi city of Tal Afar. Their numbers have since swelled to about 1,700 as more foreign nationals surrendered or were captured during operations to root out the militants, according to aid officials.

Another Turkish woman was sentenced to death last week and 10 others of various nationalities to life in prison, all for alleged Islamic State membership.

Related: Generation ISIS: When Children Are Taught to Be Terrorists

A German woman was sentenced to death last month for belonging to the group and a Russian fighter was also sentenced to death in Iraq last year for joining the hardline group.

Iraq has handed over to Russia four women and 27 children suspected of having ties to the group, the foreign ministry said on Thursday, adding that they were "tricked" into joining the militants.

Iraq declared victory over ISIS in December, which had seized control of nearly a third of the country in 2014. The group has been driven out of all population centers it once controlled on both sides of the Iraqi-Syrian border, but members have continued to carry out bombings and other attacks in Iraq. </s> A court in Iraq has sentenced 15 Turkish women to death for being members of ISIS.

Another Turkish woman accused of joining the jihadist group was given a life sentence, a judicial official said, adding that they had all acknowledged the charges against them.

Four of the women - all of whom were dressed in black - were accompanied by young children, he said.

Aged between 20 and 50, the women said they had entered Iraq illegally to join their husbands who were heading to fight for the self-proclaimed caliphate straddling vast areas of Iraq and Syria, the official added.

One of them told the judge she had taken part in fighting against Iraqi forces alongside the jihadists, he said.

Supreme Judicial Council spokesman Abdel Sattar Bayraqdar told AFP the women had a month to appeal.

Last week, another group of foreign widows of ISIS fighters told a court hearing attended they had been fooled or threatened by their husbands to head to Iraq.

Iraq, which has detained at least 560 women, as well as 600 children, identified as jihadist or relatives of suspected ISIS fighters, is wasting no time in putting them on trial.

In January, a court sentenced a German woman to death on charges of providing logistical support to ISIS, and a Turkish woman was earlier this month also handed the death penalty.

Earlier this week, a Baghdad court sentenced a French woman, Melina Boughedir, to seven months in jail for entering Iraq illegally but ordered her release on time already served.

Baghdad declared military victory over ISIS in December, after having expelled the jihadists from all urban centres they had held in northern and western Iraq since 2014.

Experts estimate that 20,000 people are being held in jail in Iraq for alleged membership of ISIS. There is no official figure.

Separately, authorities in Iraqi Kurdistan said in early February they had detained some 4,000 suspected ISIS members, including foreigners.

Iraq's anti-terrorism law empowers courts to convict people who are believed to have helped ISIS even if they are not accused of carrying out attacks.

It also allows for the death penalty to be issued against anyone - including non-combatants - found guilty of belonging to ISIS.
Iraq sentences three French militants to death for their involvement in ISIS.