Iraq court sentences 4 al-Qaeda militants to death

By Ibrahim Saleh

BAGHDAD (AA) – A criminal court in Iraq’s eastern Diyala province on Monday sentenced four suspected al-Qaeda militants to death for involvement in terrorist attacks in 2007.

“The four were convicted of membership in al-Qaeda organization and carrying out terrorist attacks,” Abdul-Sattar Bayrakdar, a spokesman for Iraq’s Supreme Judicial Council, said in a statement.

He said the militants were convicted of abducting and killing five civilians after ransacking their house in Diyala in 2007.

According to the spokesman, the verdicts were issued under Iraq’s anti-terrorism act.

Monday’s verdicts are still subject to appeal.

Al-Qaeda terrorist organization was active in Iraq before many of its members joined the Daesh terrorist group, which overran vast swathes of territory in northern and western Iraq in 2014.

Late last year, officials in Baghdad declared that Daesh's military presence in Iraq had been all but destroyed. It appears, however, that the notorious terrorist group still maintains a limited presence in certain parts of the country.