An Iraqi court has handed down a death sentence to a wife of the late Islamic State (ISIS) leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, for her involvement with the terrorist group and the detention of Yazidi women. The Iraqi judiciary announced the verdict on Wednesday, although the woman’s name was not disclosed in the official statement.
According to the Supreme Judicial Council of Iraq, the convicted woman held Yazidi women captive in her Mosul home after they were kidnapped by ISIS forces from the Sinjar district in western Nineveh Governorate. The defendant is currently in Iraqi custody.
An official said that the ruling must be ratified by an Iraqi appeal court to become final and enforceable.
In response to the court’s decision, the Islamic State media front, Sawtul Zarqawi, identified the woman as Um-e-Huzaifa in a lengthy message threatening retaliation against the judicial order.
Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who was killed in November 2019 during a U.S. special forces raid in northwestern Syria, rose to notoriety as the leader of ISIS. He declared himself “caliph” of all Muslims and controlled vast territories across Iraq and Syria from 2014 to 2017 before the group’s power was dismantled by U.S.-led coalition forces.