An Iraqi court has sentenced a Turkish woman to death by hanging for joining the terrorist organisation Islamic State group, and awarded life sentences to 11 women of various nationalities, Al Jazeera reported on Monday. All the women can appeal against the verdict.
The women, 11 from Turkey and one from Azerbaijan, were convicted despite their pleas that their husbands had either forced or duped them to join the Islamic State group.
They were arrested from the Iraqi cities of Mosul or Tal Afar after their husbands were murdered in the country’s war with the terror group. In December 2017, Iraq Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi had announced the end of a three-year campaign by the country’s military to defeat the Islamic State group.
“I got to know my husband through the internet,” Angie Omrane, the Azeri woman, was quoted as saying. “I thought we were staying in Turkey, but I found myself in Syria and then my husband took me to Iraq.”
Leila, one of the Turkish women, said, “My husband forced me to come to Iraq by threatening to take away my two-year-old son if I didn’t follow him.” She claimed that she did not take part in any “violent action” and instead always stayed home.
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