Iraqi court sentences 8 IS women members to life in jail

BAGHDAD, May 3 (Xinhua) -- An Iraqi court sentenced eight foreign women to life imprisonment for joining the Islamic State (IS) terror group, a judicial spokesman said on Thursday.

"The Central Criminal Court sentenced to life imprisonment eight female foreign terrorists from different countries: three from Turkey, three from Azerbaijan, one from Uzbekistan and one from Syria," Abdul Sattar al-Biraqdar, spokesman for Iraq's Supreme Judicial Council, said in a statement.

The court's verdicts were issued in accordance with the anti-terrorism law, Biraqdar said.

After the Iraqi forces defeated the IS in Iraq late in 2017, hundreds of IS loyalists were killed or captured, while many others are still at large in hideouts in Iraq or abroad.

The increase in executions in Iraq has sparked calls for abolishing capital punishment from the UN, the European Union and some international human rights groups, citing the lack of transparency in Iraqi courts.

Death penalty in Iraq was suspended on June 10, 2003, but was reinstated from Aug. 8, 2004. Enditem