Russian jihadist captured in Mosul condemned to die

Court says unnamed man confessed to having carried out attacks on Iraqi forces over past 2 years

By AFP 12 September 2017, 2:34 pm

Edit

Illustrative photo of demonstrators chanting in support of the Islamic State in Iraq as they wave flags in front of the provincial government headquarters in Mosul. (photo credit: AP)

BAGHDAD — An Iraqi court said on Tuesday it had sentenced to death a Russian captured in Mosul after finding him guilty of fighting for the Islamic State terror group.

The Central Criminal Court said that the man, whom it did not name, had admitted to carrying out attacks against the security forces since 2015.

He belonged to IS’s Zarqawi Brigade, named after Abu-Musab al-Zarqawi, who led IS’s predecessor Al-Qaeda in Iraq until his death in a US air strike in 2006, the court’s spokesman, judge Abdel Settar Bayraqdar, said.

Iraqi forces detained hundreds of suspected jihadists during the nine-month operation to recapture the country’s second city, which culminated in July. Many more were killed.

They included foreign fighters from a string of Arab and other countries, including Russia, which has faced insurgencies by Chechens and other Muslim groups in the North Caucasus.