And yet after seven trials over four days, Judge Ahmed Mohamed Ali delivered seven identical sentences: death by hanging. However, he had no compunction about invoking the death penalty. Iraq ranked in the top five countries that most frequently carried out the death penalty in 2018, according to Amnesty International. A spokesman said the council did not have records of how many had received the death penalty or how many had been executed. Several countries are in talks with the Iraqi government about transferring the detainees in Syria to Iraq for trial.

Source: National Post May 30, 2019 15:07 UTC