A court in Iraq sentenced 15 Turkish women to death by hanging on Sunday after they were found guilty of joining the Islamic State terrorist group as brides, according to reports.

The women confessed to marrying ISIS fighters and providing the group with aid, including logistical support and help carrying out terrorist attacks, according to the judge.

At least 500 women have been detained in Iraq on suspicion of being affiliated with the Islamic State, which Iraqi Security Forces defeated in December. More than 1,300 women and children surrendered to Kurdish peshmerga in August after government forces expelled the jihadist group from a city in northern Iraq. Another Turkish woman was given the death penalty last week.

Hundreds of these women are in the process of going to trial. In one high-profile case, a German teenager was sentenced to six years in an Iraqi prison after she was arrested for working with the Islamic State. She had escaped Germany to become an ISIS bride, and was only 16 years old when she was detained in Mosul—a city that had been decimated in the fighting between ISIS and Iraqi forces.

ISIS began recruiting women to join its ranks as wives ever since its establishment in Iraq in 2006. Hundreds of Western women are believed to have joined the group in recent years, including young girls and women from the United Kingdom, France and Belgium. Many of these women meet their future husbands online in pro-ISIS chat groups.

Most recently, at least 800 female ISIS recruits were detained in northern Syria. Members of the rights group Human Rights Watch said the women come from around 40 countries, including Australia, Canada, France, Tunisia, Yemen and Turkey.

Meanwhile, as ISIS suffers serious military defeats, the group has started encouraging the women in its ranks to join the battlefield.

In the October edition of its Arabic language newspaper, the group said women are obligated to wage physical jihad.

"Today, in the context of the war against the Islamic State, it has become necessary for female Muslims to fulfill their duties on all fronts in supporting the mujahideen in this battle," an article in the paper read.</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>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>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.</s>Iraq’s Central Criminal Court has issued death sentences to 16 Turkish women, a judiciary spokesman said. They were found guilty of joining Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS) and aiding terrorists in their attacks.

The women were convicted to death by hanging 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,” Judge Abdul-Sattar al-Birqdar, a spokesman of the court, told reporters, using an Arabic acronym for Islamic State. The court’s decision can still be appealed, he said.

Thousands of women, including foreign nationals who joined the terrorist group, were detained by Iraqi forces as they liberated territories held by the extremists. In October last year, the Iraqi ambassador to Belgium, Jawad Al-Chlaihawi, put the total number of detained IS militant family members at 14,000. Many of them now face trial.

On Monday, the Iraqi court sentenced another Turkish woman to death over membership in the terrorist group while handing down life sentences to 10 more women of various nationalities. In late January, the death sentence was issued to a German woman of Moroccan descent who reportedly became the first foreign woman to be sentenced to death by an Iraqi court.

As many as 100 foreign fighters who travelled to Iraq to fight for Islamic State will stand trial in Iraq, Al-Chlaihawi said, adding that most of them are likely to be also sentenced to death. Back in 2015, an Iraqi court already sentenced an IS extremist, who came from Russia, to death.

All foreigners, including women who committed “crimes” against the people of Iraq “directly or through support” of terrorist groups will stand trial in accordance with Iraqi law, government spokesman Saad al-Hadithi said earlier this week. He added that foreign nationals proven to have committed no crimes on Iraqi soil would be sent back to their home countries, local media report.

On Monday, an Iraqi court ordered the release and deportation of a French woman who joined Islamic State. Melina Bougedir, 27, was detained last summer as Iraqi troops took over the northern city of Mosul from extremists. She was sentenced to seven months in prison for entering Iraq illegally, but was then immediately released as the court ruled she already served her time during her detention.

Last week, a German teenage ‘Islamic State bride’ known as Linda Wenzel was convicted to six years in prison for her affiliation with the terrorist group.</s>An Iraqi court sentenced 16 Turkish woman to death by hanging for joining Islamic State, a judiciary spokesman said on Sunday.



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.



All the verdicts can be appealed, he told Reuters.</s>An Iraqi court has sentenced 15 Turkish women to death after finding them guilty of joining the Islamic State (IS) militant group.

The criminal court on February 25 also sentenced another Turkish woman to life for joining the group.

Judge Abdul-Sattar al-Birqdar said the court issued the sentences "after it was proven they belong to the [IS] terrorist group and after they confessed to marrying [IS] elements or providing members of the group with logistical aid or helping them carry out terrorist attacks."

Iraq has detained at least 560 women and 600 children identified as militants or relatives of IS fighters.

In January, a court sentenced a German woman to death on charges of providing logistical support to IS militants, and a Turkish woman was, earlier in February, also handed the death penalty.

The Iraqi government declared military victory over IS militants in December, after expelling the group from all major urban centers they had held in northern and western Iraq since 2014.

Based on reporting by AFP and Reuters</s>Baghdad (Iraqinews.com) – An Iraqi criminal court sentenced on Sunday 15 Turkish women to death on charges of joining the Islamic State (IS) group, judicial sources were quoted as saying.

All the 15 Turkish women have admitted belonging to the IS group, AFP quoted the sources as saying.

The court sentenced another Turkish woman to life in jail, the sources added.

Last week, an Iraqi criminal court ordered deporting a French female jihadist to her country after serving a seven-year jail term.

Melina Bougedir was arrested last year in Mosul city along with her four children, three of whom have already been repatriated to France, as she stood trial for entering Iraq illegally.

Earlier this month, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said in Baghdad that suspected jihadists should be tried in the countries where they committed their “crimes”, while reiterating France’s opposition to the death penalty.

Britain has also taken a firm stance against repatriation, as has Belgium which denied a request by one of its nationals to be sent home from Iraq in exchange for cooperating with the authorities.

Iraq in December declared victory against IS after a years-long battle to retake large swathes of territory the extremists had seized in 2014.

Several hundred foreigners, both men and women, are thought to have been detained in Iraq for alleged links to IS.</s>An Iraqi court has sentenced 16 Turkish women to death by hanging for joining 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.—Reuters</s>BAGHDAD: An Iraqi court has sentenced 16 Tur­kish women to death by hanging for joining the militant Islamic State (IS) group, 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 the IS 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.

All the verdicts are subject to appeal, he said.

Thousands of foreigners have fought on behalf of IS 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 IS membership.

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.
An Iraqi court sentences 15 Turkish women to death by hanging after they were found guilty of joining the ISIS group as brides.