ISIL leader extradited from Turkey condemned to death in Iraq

BAGHDAD – Agence France-Presse

An Iraqi court on Sept. 19 sentenced a prominent jihadist described as a deputy of ISIL leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi to death on terrorism charges.

“The Karkh criminal court in Baghdad sentenced to death by hanging one of the most prominent leaders of IS [ISIL], who served as a deputy of Baghdadi,” judicial spokesman Abdel Sattar Bayraqdar said.

Ismail Alwan Salman al-Ithawi was extradited from Turkey earlier this year having fled Syria as the group’s self-proclaimed “caliphate” crumbled.

He was tracked and detained through cooperation between Turkish, Iraqi and US intelligence agencies, a senior Iraqi official told AFP in February.

A native of the Iraqi city of Ramadi, Ithawi was accused of holding several positions including ISIL “minister” in charge of religious edicts.

Iraq declared “victory” over ISIL in December 2017 after a three-year war against the jihadists who once controlled nearly one third of the country as well as swathes of neighboring Syria.

Baghdadi has been pronounced dead on several occasions, but an Iraqi intelligence official said in May 2018 that he remained alive in Syrian territory by the Iraqi border.

The ISIL chief called on Muslims to wage “jihad” in a purported new audio recording released in August 2018.