Iraqi authorities sentenced to 15 years in jail Indonesian woman for ISIS membership

An Iraqi court on Wednesday sentenced an Indonesian woman convicted of membership in the Islamic State to 15 years in prison.

The Central Criminal Court looked at the case of the woman who was “accused of belonging to the Da’esh [ISIS] terrorist organization and sentenced her to 15 years in prison” after the allegations were proven, a statement from the Iraqi Higher Judicial Council read.

“The court found evidence sufficient to convict the defendant in accordance with the provisions of Article IV / 1 of the Anti-Terrorism Law No. 13 of 2005,” the council said.

Without naming the woman, it added that she carried an Indonesian nationality ID and “was married to one of the elements of the organization, who was killed in bombings of international coalition aircraft [in Syria].”

She then fled Syria and crossed into Iraq’s Nineveh province, where security forces captured her in the Tal Afar district. The statement did not specify when the woman was arrested nor when her husband was killed.

Iraq has tried hundreds of foreign alleged Islamic State fighters, sentencing many to life in prison and others to death, with the recent cases of 11 French nationals garnering international attention.

All 11 were sentenced to death, but many of them claimed in court that Iraqi officials had tortured them. Human Rights Watch (HRW) called on nations not to rely on Iraq, a country notorious for using torture to extract confessions to try their citizens.

However, many nations in the European Union fear that due to the lack of evidence, Islamic State supporters could quickly be released once they appear in court after returning home. As such, the notion of an international criminal court to try them either in Iraq or Syria seems to be an attractive solution for them.

Source: Kurdistan 24