Iraq: 508 foreigners convicted of Daesh links in 2018

By Ibrahim Saleh

BAGHDAD

Iraqi courts have tried 508 foreigners for links with the Daesh terrorist group in 2018, according to the Supreme Judiciary Council on Monday.

“The convicted foreigners include 466 females and 42 males,” council spokesman Abdul Sattar al-Biraqdar said in a statement.

He said 91 foreigners – 24 men and 67 women -- are still being tried before Iraqi courts.

The spokesman said 616 Iraqi nationals have been convicted by courts of Daesh membership in 2018, while 99 others are still standing trial on charges of links with the terrorist group.

In the summer of 2014, Daesh overran much of northern and western Iraq.

After a three-year war, the Iraqi government declared last year that Daesh's military presence in Iraq had been all but ended through operations backed by a U.S.-led international alliance.

From time to time, however, Iraqi officials announce operations against Daesh-affiliated "sleeper cells" in certain parts of the country.