Belgian sentenced for ISIS membership

Baghdad, May 22: An Iraqi court on Tuesday sentenced a Belgian jihadist, who threatened Europe in propaganda videos, to death by hanging for membership of the Islamic State group.

The tough punishment is the latest doled out in the conflict- scarred country to foreigners who flocked to the selfdeclared caliphate of ISIS. Tarik Jadaoun — known by his nom de guerre Abu Hamza alBeljiki — earlier pleaded not guilty to a range of terror charges, insisting he had “got lost” and pleading for mercy.

Born in 1988, Jadaoun — who was captured in ex- ISIS bastion Mosul in August — appeared before the Baghdad court dressed in a beige prison uniform with a shaved head and bushy moustache.

The hearing lasted for less than 10 minutes, with a judge sentencing him to be “hanged until death”.

Jadaoun — who refused to defend himself after the charges were read out — was immediately taken out of court with his face covered by guards and loaded into a prison van.

He now has 30 days to appeal the verdict during which time the sentence should not be carried out.

In addition, he was sentenced to three years in prison and handed a fine worth $ 2,300 for illegally crossing the Iraqi border. In a statement released after the sentencing, the Iraqi judiciary described Jadaoun as “among the most wanted foreign terrorists who fought in Syria and Iraq”. Jadaoun, who has Moroccan roots, said during a first hearing on May 10 that he was forced by “one of the top ISIS commanders” to appear in videos threatening attacks against Belgium and France.