Foreign Terrorists Convicted in Iraq

Iraqi courts are trying, convicting, and sentencing foreign Islamist terrorists captured in Iraq by US and Iraqi forces. From CENTCOM:

BAGHDAD, Iraq – The Central Criminal Court of Iraq convicted 15 insurgents from January 19 to 25, for various crimes including illegal possession of special category weapons, joining armed groups to unsettle the stability and security of Iraq and illegal border crossing.

The trial court found a Syrian man guilty of illegal possession of special weapons in violation of Order 3/2003 and Article 10/First/A of the Passport Law and sentenced him to 21 years imprisonment. Multi-National Forces apprehended the defendant after his vehicle was pulled over for attempting to engage a MNF convoy. One insurgent was shot and killed when he threw a grenade that failed to detonate. MNF searched the vehicle and found numerous weapons including three RPG’s, two RPK and two PKC machine guns and armor piercing ammunition. On Jan. 22, the trial panel considered all the evidence and sentenced him to six years imprisonment for the violation of the passport law and 15 years for the illegal weapons possession for a total of 21 years imprisonment.

The trial court found a Tunisian man guilty of Article 194 of the Iraqi Penal Code for Joining Armed Groups to Unsettle the Stability and Security of Iraq. The defendant was captured by private security guards near a checkpoint in Baghdad. The defendant was driving a vehicle borne improvised explosive device (VBIED) which had broken down on a bridge.

Attempting to elude capture, the defendant broke his arm jumping from the bridge.

Those convicted of passport violations, illegal possession of special weapons and entering the country illegally were sentenced from between one to ten years imprisonment. Those convicted include 11 Iraqis and one each from Tunisia, Jordan, Sudan and Syria.