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Iraqis from same family risk death penalty over IS killings
BAGHDAD, Aug 1, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Eight Iraqis from the same family risk
being sentenced to death after admitting to involvement in killing 370 people
while members of the Islamic State group, the judiciary said Wednesday.
The men face charges under Iraq’s anti-terror legislation over the killings
at Khasfah, a sinkhole in northern Iraq just eight kilometres from Mosul, the
former capital of IS’s self-declared “caliphate”.
“The eight terrorists arrested have admitted to participating in the
Khasfah massacre,” said Supreme Judicial Council spokesman Abdel Sattar
Bayraqdar.
“They participated in the execution of 370 civilians and members of
security forces and the arrest of 400 people in Mosul,” who were then held in
IS jails, he added in a statement.
After IS overran Mosul in 2014, Khasfah became one of Iraq’s largest mass
graves as jihadists carried out a series of executions at the site.
Witnesses said the victims were blindfolded and had their hands tied behind
their backs, before being forced to kneel. They were then shot and pushed
into the crater.
More than 300 people, including around 100 foreigners, have been sentenced
to death or life in prison by Iraqi courts over their membership of IS,
according to judicial sources.
Iraq declared victory in December over the jihadist group, which at its
peak controlled nearly a third of the country as well as large swathes of
neighbouring Syria.
BSS/AFP/FI/ 1944 hrs