‘Deputy of ISIS leader’ convicted of terrorism and sentenced to hang

An Iraqi court yesterday sentenced to death on terrorism charges a militant described as a deputy of ISIS group leader Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi.

“The Karkh criminal court in Baghdad sentenced to death by hanging one of the most prominent leaders of ISIS, who served as a deputy of Baghdadi,” said judicial spokesman Abdel Sattar Bayraqdar.

The Iraqi authorities announced in February that Ismail Alwan Salman Al Ithawi had been extradited from Turkey after fleeing Iraq and then Syria as the group’s self-proclaimed caliphate crumbled.

The militant was tracked and detained through co-operation between Turkish, Iraqi and United States intelligence agencies, according to a senior Iraqi official.

He said the arrest came after an elite Iraqi unit hunting ISIS members “infiltrated the highest levels” of the militant group, which has claimed a series of deadly attacks in the West in recent years.

A native of the Iraqi city of Ramadi, Al Ithawi was accused of holding several positions, including ISIS minister in charge of religious edicts.

Originally from Iraq, Baghdadi has been named the “most wanted man on the planet” and the US is offering a $25 million (Dh91.8m) reward for his capture. The 47-year-old has been pronounced dead on several occasions, but an Iraqi intelligence official said in May that he was alive in Syrian territory by the Iraqi border.

In an audio recording released last month purported to be the voice of the ISIS chief, Al Baghdadi called on Muslims to wage war on the West.

He made his only known public appearance in Iraq’s second city of Mosul in July 2014.

Iraq has condemned several hundred people, including about 100 foreign women, to death for ISIS links, and dozens of convicted extremists have been executed.

Many more have been sentenced to life, including nine Tajik women sentenced by an Iraqi criminal court yesterday for belonging to ISIS, a judicial official said.

The country has repeatedly faced criticism from international human rights groups over the high number of death sentences handed down by its anti-terrorist courts.

Iraq declared victory over ISIS in December after a three-year war against the militants who once controlled nearly a third of the country as well as areas of neighbouring Syria.