Widow of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is sentenced to DEATH for keeping sex slaves at her home
AN IRAQI court has sentenced the widow of a former Islamic State (ISIS) leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi to death.
Asma Mohammed was charged with detaining Yazidi women and keeping them as sex slaves at her home, the court announced on Wednesday.
State media, citing a Supreme Judicial Council statement said: “The terrorist enslaved Yazidi women in her home, and they were kidnapped by ISIS terrorist gangs in Sinjar district in western Nineveh province."
Al-Baghdadi was killed by US troops in 2019 in a major operation in northwestern Syria.
His first wife Mohammed was then detained the same year in Turkey, say judicial sources.
Iraq announced they had secured "the repatriation of the family" of al-Baghdadi as they made her return to the Middle East along with her children.
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Under Iraqi Counter-Terrorism laws anyone found guilty of assisting or hiding a terror suspect is given life imprisonment.
Mohammed spoke with the BBC after she was returned to Iraq this year as she described herself as a “victim who tried to escape from her husband”.
She would also deny being involved in any of ISIS’s brutal regime.
In one of her final interviews before she was sentenced, Mohammed, who married al-Baghdadi in 1999, said her husband owned over 10 "slave" women.
She told Al Arabiya that al-Baghdadi and other leaders of the terror group were “obsessed” with women.
Courts in Iraq have given out hundreds of death sentences and sentenced even more to life behind bars in the last decade for those involved with ISIS.
It comes as Umm Hudaifa, Baghdadi's first wife, gave chilling details of their disturbed marriage with the widow also being held in an Iraqi jail.
Speaking from prison, the terror bride claimed how al-Baghdadi was "psychologically damaged" and allegedly sexually tortured in prison.
She went on to claim that the ISIS boss even married off his own 12-year-old daughter to one of his friends and kept sex slaves at their home.
ISIS takeover of Iraq & Syria in 2014-17
THE ISIS takeover of Iraq and Syria from 2014 to 2017 involved rapid territorial gains, brutal governance, and significant global impact.
Evolving from al-Qaeda in Iraq, ISIS grew under Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, exploiting the chaos of the Syrian Civil War to seize large territories.
In June 2014, ISIS captured Mosul, Iraq's second-largest city, gaining significant resources.
Shortly after, ISIS declared a caliphate with Baghdadi as caliph, controlling major parts of Syria and Iraq, including Raqqa and Mosul.
The group established a strict governance system and used social media for recruitment and propaganda, showcasing its military successes and brutal acts.
Known for extreme violence, ISIS conducted mass executions and terror attacks, including the 2015 Paris and 2016 Brussels attacks.
An international coalition, including the US and local forces, launched a military campaign against ISIS, leading to key victories like the liberation of Mosul and Raqqa in 2017.
By the end of 2017, ISIS had lost most of its territory, though it retained some capacity for insurgent attacks.
The conflict caused massive displacement and humanitarian crises, with cities like Mosul and Raqqa heavily damaged.
Despite being weakened, ISIS continues to pose a threat through insurgent activities and lone-wolf attacks globally.
This period saw intense conflict, international efforts to combat ISIS, and significant impacts on regional stability and global security.