Iraq court sentences 16 Turkish women to death for joining ISIS

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.

Last week, the court issued a verdict of the death penalty for a female Turkish citizen and issued 10 verdicts of life sentences for other women from different countries, according to an earlier statement by Biraqdar.

On Thursday, the Iraqi authorities handed over four women and 27 children from ISIS families to Russia, after being cleared of charges of involvement in terrorist operations against civilians or security forces, Iraqi Foreign Ministry said.

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.