2024 RT Amination Banner.gif

China Daily

Asia Pacific> Asia News> Content
Thursday, March 08, 2018, 20:24
Iraqi court sentences IS leader Baghdadi's sister to death
By Associated Press
Thursday, March 08, 2018, 20:24 By Associated Press

This image grab taken from a propaganda video released on July 5, 2014 by al-Furqan Media allegedly shows the leader of the Islamic State group, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, addressing Muslim worshippers at a mosque in Iraqi city of Mosul.  (HANDOUT / AL-FURQAN MEDIA / AFP)

BAGHDAD — A Baghdad court has convicted the sister of the top leader of the Islamic State group on terrorism charges and sentenced her to death, a spokesman said Thursday.

The spokesman of Iraq's Supreme Judicial Council, Abdul-Sattar Bayrkdar, said in a statement that Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi's sister was found guilty for "offering logistic support and help to (IS militants) in carrying out criminal acts."

READ MORE: Kurdish official: IS leader Baghdadi almost certainly alive

The woman, whose name was not released, was also found guilty of "distributing money" among IS militants in Mosul, Iraq's second-largest city which was under their rule for more than three years from mid-2014, Bayrkdar added.

Bayrkdar said the woman's husband was earlier also sentenced to death as a member of the IS leadership.

Iraq declared victory over IS last December, after driving the militants from northern and central Iraq. Hundreds of women, including foreigners, were arrested in the sweep. Since then, Iraq's Central Criminal Court has issued number of sentences against IS women, ranging from years in prison to death by hanging.

ALSO READ: IS releases audio record of 'top leader al-Baghdadi'

Al-Baghdadi's whereabouts remain unknown.

In this Feb 6, 2018 photo, an Iraqi man holds printed profiles of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi released by Iraqi authorities. Iraqi authorities issued a new list of "internationally wanted terrorists," headed by Islamic State group leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. (AHMAD AL-RUBAYE / AFP)

Rumors have surfaced on several occasions of his death and injuries in airstrikes and fighting in both Iraq and Syria, territories where IS had declared an Islamic "caliphate," though there was never anything to back them up.

Al-Baghdadi, believed to be in his mid-40s, was seen in public only once when he declared himself the leader of IS from a historic mosque in Mosul, just a few weeks after IS captured the city in the summer of 2014, along with entire swaths of northern and western Iraq.

Since then, he has only released audio messages to his followers from time to time, urging them to keep on fighting.

Share this story