1st LD: Iraqi court sentences 40 people to death for mass killing of soldiers

An Iraqi court on Thursday sentenced 40 defendants to death over charges of killing about 1,700 soldiers when Islamic State (IS) militants seized the city of Tikrit in June 2014, an Iraqi official television reported.

"The Central Criminal Court issued a verdict to execute 40 defendants by hanging after proving they were involved in Speicher massacre," the state-run Iraqiya channel quoted Abdul Sattar al-Biraqdar, spokesman for Iraq's Supreme Judicial Council, as saying.

Biraqdar said that the death sentences are preliminary and subject to reviewing by the Court of Cassation.

In June 2014, armed Sunni insurgents, spearheaded by IS group, an al-Qaida offshoot, launched a surprise offensive on Iraqi security forces and captured a large part of the country's northern and western territories after government troops abandoned their posts and military equipment.

Reports said that among the dozens of thousands of soldiers who abandoned their posts in June, some 1,700 soldiers who walked out of an air base, known as Camp Speicher north of Tikrit, were abducted and killed by IS militants.

In Thursday's sentencing, the defendants were found guilty as the evidences were enough for their conviction, Biraqdar said, adding that the court also released seven other defendants for lack of evidence.

Last year, on July 8, the court sentenced 24 other defendants to death over the Speicher killing.

The IS group later posted video footage and still images showing the execution of Iraqi government soldiers. Endit