Iraq hands death sentences to three for terrorism, drug-related crimes

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - An Iraqi court on Tuesday issued a death sentence for a “terrorist criminal” convicted of carrying out a deadly car bomb attack in the southeastern city of Amarah in 2007 and handed two additional death sentences against two drug traffickers. 

“The Maysan Criminal Court issued a death sentence against a terrorist criminal for the crime of detonating a car bomb in the center of Amarah city in 2007 … which resulted in 17 martyrs and 50 injuries,” Iraqi state media reported, citing a statement by the Supreme Judicial Council. 

The court also issued sentences against two convicts who were found to be in possession of 3.5 kilograms of hashish, saying the convicts were attempting to sell the narcotic substances. 

In December of 2007, a deadly triple car bomb attack ripped through Amarah’s Dijlah Street, destroying shops and restaurants. It was one of the deadliest attacks in Iraq in months at the time and came recently after Iraqi security forces assumed control of the security of the city from the British military and Shiite groups jostling for power.

Iraq’s Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani in May highlighted the dangerous spread of narcotics in the country at the first Baghdad Conference on Drug Control, stating that terrorism and drugs are “two sides of the same crime.”

Sudani has ordered the establishment of rehabilitation centers in all Iraqi provinces, excluding the Kurdistan Region, as part of his cabinet’s commitment to combat growing drug trade and use as seriously as the country fights terrorism.