Iraqi Court Sentences Wife of Slain Islamic State Leader to Death for Crimes against Yazidi Women

The Iraqi judiciary has made a significant move by issuing a death sentence against one of the wives of the late Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. The court accused her of being complicit in crimes committed against Yazidi women captured by the militant group.

The ruling comes just before the 10-year anniversary of IS’s brutal attacks on the Yazidi religious minority in Sinjar, Iraq, in 2014. The attacks resulted in the deaths and capture of thousands, with many women and girls enduring human trafficking and sexual abuse. The United Nations labeled the campaign against the Yazidis as genocide.

According to Iraq’s judicial council, the Karkh Criminal Court sentenced the woman for holding Yazidi women in her home and aiding in their kidnapping by IS in Sinjar. The sentencing was based on Iraq’s anti-terrorism law and its Yazidi survivors law.

While the defendant was not named in the statement, court officials identified her as Asma Mohammed, who was apprehended in Turkey in 2018 and later extradited to Iraq. In addition, another wife of al-Baghdadi and his daughter, also extradited from Turkey, received a life sentence.

This decision raises concerns about accountability and due process, as survivors of IS attacks have criticized the winding down of a U.N. probe into IS crimes and the lack of fairness in trials of alleged IS members in Iraq. Human rights groups have also called for the abolishment of the death penalty in such cases.

Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared the establishment of the IS caliphate in 2014, which was later dismantled with his death in a U.S. raid in 2019. Despite losing control over its territories, IS remnants still pose a threat with sporadic attacks.