A court in Iraq has sentenced 16 Turkish women to death by hanging after they were found guilty of belonging to the Islamic State terror group.
The women, said to be aged between 20 and 50, appeared dressed in black at the Central Criminal Court in Baghdad yesterday, the BBC reports. “Four had young children with them,” it adds.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Hundreds of women and children have been detained in Iraq over alleged links to Isis since the Islamist group lost control of its final strongholds in the country last year.
“Many foreign women came - or were brought - from overseas to join the militants,” Reuters reports.
Human Rights Watch has criticised Iraqi courts for handing down death sentences for non-violent crimes, and claims that many women were tricked or coerced into joining the terrorist group.
“In these cases, the women are getting the harshest possible sentences for what appears to be marriage to an Islamic State member or a coerced border crossing,” senior Iraq researcher Belkis Wille said in a statement on the campaign group’s website. “The Iraqi courts need to redirect their priorities.”
Senior Iraqi judges insist tough sentences are playing a vital role in restoring law and order.
-
In Suriname, the spectre of Dutch slave trade lingersUnder the Radar Dutch royal family visit, the first to the South American former colony in nearly 50 years, spotlights role of the Netherlands in transatlantic trade
-
Political cartoons for December 7Cartoons Sunday’s political cartoons include the Trump-tanic, AI Santa, and the search for a moderate Republican
-
Trump’s poll collapse: can he stop the slide?Talking Point President who promised to ease cost-of-living has found that US economic woes can’t be solved ‘via executive fiat’
-
Femicide: Italy’s newest crimeThe Explainer Landmark law to criminalise murder of a woman as an ‘act of hatred’ or ‘subjugation’ but critics say Italy is still deeply patriarchal
-
Brazil’s Bolsonaro behind bars after appeals run outSpeed Read He will serve 27 years in prison
-
Americans traveling abroad face renewed criticism in the Trump eraThe Explainer Some of Trump’s behavior has Americans being questioned
-
Why these Iraqi elections are so importantThe Explainer The US and Israel are increasingly pressuring Baghdad to tackle Iran-backed militants, while weakened Iran sees Iraq as a vital remaining ally
-
Nigeria confused by Trump invasion threatSpeed Read Trump has claimed the country is persecuting Christians
-
Sanae Takaichi: Japan’s Iron Lady set to be the country’s first woman prime ministerIn the Spotlight Takaichi is a member of Japan’s conservative, nationalist Liberal Democratic Party
-
Russia is ‘helping China’ prepare for an invasion of TaiwanIn the Spotlight Russia is reportedly allowing China access to military training
-
Interpol arrests hundreds in Africa-wide sextortion crackdownIN THE SPOTLIGHT A series of stings disrupts major cybercrime operations as law enforcement estimates millions in losses from schemes designed to prey on lonely users
