Saudi Qaeda leader sentenced to death in Iraq

Iraq has sentenced to death a Saudi man who was an Al-Qaeda leader in northern Iraq, the Higher Judicial Council said in a statement released on Tuesday. The man, identified only by the initials BA and described as the military emir (commander) of the eastern part of the northern city of Mosul in 2008, was sentenced to death by the Central Criminal Court, the statement said. He had admitted to having joined Al-Qaeda and said that he took part in fighting in Fallujah, during which he lost a leg, the statement added. In 2004, the US military carried out two attacks on Fallujah, the main insurgent stronghold west of Baghdad. The Saudi man had already been sentenced to 15 years in prison for illegally entering the country, but managed to avoid it by claiming to be an Iraqi national. “He admitted to carrying out activities aimed at destabilising the country and and putting people’s lives at risk,” the statement said. The court based its verdict on the man’s own testimony, as well as on intelligence and evidence given by another Saudi citizen who was said to be an ex-official in charge of implementing sharia (Islamic law) in Mosul. In December 2011, the Saudi daily Al-Sharq reported that 108 Saudi nationals were imprisoned in Iraq, some for “terrorism” and others for illegally entering the country. Among them were two sentenced to death and 18 to life in prison, the newspaper said, citing a list of sentences for the Saudis it said it had obtained for the Iraqi embassy. In September 2008, Baghdad handed over eight Saudis held in Iraq to Saudi authorities in exchange for a commitment from Riyadh to free 16 Iraqis detained in Saudi Arabia.