BAGHDAD, May 22 (Xinhua) -- An Iraqi court Tuesday sentenced Abu Hamza, a Belgian member of the Islamic State (IS) militant group, over charges of training children for IS and attacks against Iraqi forces, a judicial spokesman said.
"The Central Criminal Court in Baghdad issued a verdict of death penalty by hanging for the terrorist Tariq Jadaoun, known as Abu Hamza al-Belgiki in Arabic, or (Belgian Abu Hamza)," Abdul Sattar al-Biraqdar, spokesman for Iraq's Supreme Judicial Council, said in a statement.
The court's verdict was issued in accordance with the anti-terrorism law, Biraqdar said.
He said the convict is a Belgian national, but of Moroccan origin and was one of the most wanted foreign terrorists who fought in Syria and Iraq in the ranks of the terrorist organization of Daesh (IS group).
After the Iraqi forces defeated the IS in Iraq late in 2017, hundreds of IS loyalists were killed or captured, while many others are still at large in hideouts in Iraq or abroad.
The increase in executions in Iraq has sparked calls for abolishing capital punishment from the UN, the European Union and some international human rights groups, citing the lack of transparency in Iraqi courts.
Death penalty in Iraq was suspended on June 10, 2003, but was reinstated from Aug. 8, 2004.
