ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - An Iraqi court on Wednesday sentenced 10 security forces members to 12 years in jail for failing to protect the mayor of Karbala who was killed last week.
Mayor Abeer Saleem al-Khafaji died on August 10 while he was supervising a campaign to end land abuses. He was shot three times in the chest by a man whose illegally-constructed house was being torn down.
Ten members of the security forces, including an officer, were handed 12 years imprisonment and fired from their posts in the interior ministry by a local court for their “failure to provide necessary protection” to the mayor, said Saad Maan, media officer for the interior ministry.
Iraqi PM Mustafa al-Kadhimi visited Karbala the day after the mayor was killed and spoke with the suspected murderer, who was blindfolded, in a crowd of security forces.
Kadhimi urged the judiciary to seek “retribution" in the case.
