An Iraqi court has handed down a death sentence to one of the widows of the late Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, accusing her of complicity in crimes committed against Yazidi women captured by the militant group. According to a statement released by Iraq’s judicial council, the Karkh criminal court sentenced the woman for “detaining Yazidi women in her home.” The court determined that Baghdadi’s wife facilitated their kidnapping by “the terrorist Isis gangs in Sinjar district.”
The verdict arrives weeks before the 10-year anniversary of IS’s brutal attacks against the Yazidi religious minority group in August 2014. In the northern Iraqi region of Sinjar, the militant group carried out mass killings, capturing and enslaving thousands of Yazidis. Hundreds of Yazidi women and children were subjected to human trafficking and sexual abuse. The court has withheld the identity of Baghdadi’s wife.
As per the state-run Iraqi News Agency, the ruling was issued in accordance with Iraq’s anti-terrorism law and its “Yazidi survivors law”. While the statement did not name the defendant, two court officials identified the convict as Asma Mohammed. Notably, Mohammed was apprehended in Turkey in 2018 and subsequently extradited to Iraq.
The case gained prominence after survivors of the IS attacks in Iraq voiced their concerns about a lack of accountability and urged the Iraqi government to expedite a UN investigation of IS crimes. The UN has previously characterized the campaign against the Yazidis as genocide.
On June 29, 2014, al-Baghdadi, renowned as one of the most ruthless and effective jihadist leaders in modern history, declared the terror group’s caliphate. However, in 2019, he was killed during a US raid in Syria, an event followed by a historic address by then-US President Donald Trump. The US raid dealt a significant blow to the group, leading to the loss of all territories it previously controlled.
