Iraq Sentences 15 Turkish Women To Death For Joining Islamic State

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(RFE/RL) — 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.

Human Rights Watch denounced the rulings as “unfair.”

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.

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