A court in Baghdad sentenced to death a senior Islamic State figure and former deputy to its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
Ismail Alwaan al-Ithawi was sentenced on Wednesday, September 19 to death by hanging, said Judge Abdul Sattar Birkdar, spokesperson for the Supreme Judicial council.
Ithawi, who went by the kunya, or nom de guerre, Abu Zeid al-Iraqi is an Iraqi national in charge of ISIS’s religious rulings and education curriculum, and sat on an important leadership committee.
He “had fled to Syria and worked in tribal relations. He then fled to Turkey after most of the region was liberated,” NRT reported Birkdar as saying in a court statement.
He was arrested in Turkey on February 15 and later turned over to Iraqi forces.
Iraqi courts have sentenced more than 300 people to death, including dozens of foreigners, for belonging to ISIS, according to AFP.
On September 10, Iraq executed seven men convicted on terrorism charges. In June, Iraq executed 13 people after ISIS claimed responsibility for the murder of eight civilians.
Iraq’s anti-terrorism law empowers courts to convict people who are believed to have helped ISIS even if they are not accused of carrying out attacks.