Mideast edition, Tuesday, July 3, 2007
The Central Criminal Court of Iraq — a forum in which U.S. troops testify against alleged insurgents they arrest — convicted another 46 people, with four of them sentenced to death.
According to a statement released by the U.S. military on Monday, one Iraqi man was condemned to death on June 21 for participating in multiple terrorist attacks, and kidnapping and killing Iraqi policemen.
He confessed to being a member of the Jaysh al Mujahedin terrorist group, an outfit that is said to have also targeted Iraqi and coalition forces in the past, along with an Iraqi elementary school.
Another of the convicted, a Saudi Arabian national, was sentenced to death on June 19 for helping attack a U.S. military convoy in Iraq. He was arrested near Baghdad by soldiers belonging to the 1st Battalion, 8th Infantry Regiment on Sept. 9, 2006, and confessed to receiving training by al-Qaida.
Two others sentenced to death were of Iraqi and Yemeni origins, handed their punishment on June 17. They were captured on Dec. 15, 2006, by Iraqi security forces for “participating in terrorist operations.”
None of the four who were convicted is older than 28.
Three other Iraqis were sentenced to life imprisonment without parole for unspecified crimes which violated the Iraqi Terrorist Law. All others were convicted for illegal weapons possession or false identification, with sentences being issued for one to 30 years in prison.
Since April 2004, CCCI has held 2,255 trials for suspected criminals, leading to 2,003 convictions.
