INTERNACIONAL
Iraq issues death sentence against wife of late ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi
The wife of late Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is set to be hanged after an Iraqi court on Wednesday issued a death sentence against her for committing «crimes against humanity,» genocide against the Yazidi people and «terrorist actions.»
Asma Mohammed was arrested in Turkey in 2018 before being handed over to the Iraqis last year, The Associated Press is reporting, citing court and security officials.
Bill Roggio, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and the editor of its Long War Journal, told Fox News Digital that in Iraq, «there’s a lot of jihadists and their family members in prison» and that «this is how Iraq appears to be going to deal with it, at least with the high-profile detainees.»
«It’s highly likely that given how family members of senior leaders were involved in terrorist operations, propaganda, it’s likely that she is involved,» he added.
ISIS REMAINS GLOBAL THREAT A DECADE AFTER DECLARING CALIPHATE, US MILITARY OFFICIAL SAYS
Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi died during a U.S. special forces raid in Syria in 2019. (AP/Department of Defense)
However, he also suggested that Mohammed’s hanging «will be used by the Islamic State as recruiting fodder,» with the terrorist group potentially aiming to turn her into a «martyr.»
Iraqi officials allege ISIS gangs kidnapped women of the Yazidi religious minority and that Mohammed held them prisoner in her home in Mosul, according to Reuters.
«The criminal court today sentenced Baghdadi’s wife to death by hanging for crimes against humanity and genocide against the Yazidi people and also for contributing to terrorism actions,» one Iraqi court official told the news agency.
2 ISIS MILITANTS SUSPECTED IN 2014 MASSACRE OF IRAQI SOLDIERS TURNED OVER TO BAGHDAD
Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is seen preaching at a mosque in Mosul in 2014. (Al-Furqan Media/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)
Baghdadi killed himself by detonating an explosive vest during a U.S. special forces raid in Syria in 2019.
State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said last August that «ISIS abducted and killed thousands of Yezidis, forcing boys to become child soldiers and selling women and girls into sexual slavery.
Former President Trump is joined by Vice President Mike Pence, National Security Advisor Robert O’Brien, Secretary of Defense Mark Esper and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff U.S. Army Gen. Mark Milley in the Situation Room of the White House on Oct. 26, 2019, in Washington, D.C. Trump was monitoring developments as U.S. special operations forces closed in on ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi’s compound in Syria with a mission to kill or capture the terrorist. (Shealah Craighead/The White House via Getty Images)
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«The number of people killed remains unknown, and discoveries of mass graves continue,» he added at the time. «The scars of that experience are borne by Yazidis around the world to this day.»
INTERNACIONAL
Mother of Israeli hostage begs Trump, Netanyahu to bring son home before ceasefire collapses: ‘No more time’
Idit Ohel, the mother of Israeli hostage Alon Ohel, urgently pleaded for President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to secure the release of the remaining Oct. 7 captives held by Hamas amid fears the current ceasefire deal is disintegrating.
«They have no more time. And please don’t go back to war. Please. Because if that happens, if we go back to war, the hostages could die. The hostages that are alive could die,» she told Fox News Digital. «That’s what happened last time. Last time we saw that after the hostages came out and war started, so many hostages died and were murdered by Hamas. So we cannot let this happen. Please do everything in your power and do something for my son. He’s in the tunnels. He’s crying for help.»
Idit Ohel said she received confirmation that her son is still alive from released hostages Eli Sharabi and Or Levy, two of the three gaunt, frail-looking Israelis forced to speak Saturday during a Hamas hand-over ceremony in Gaza.
The mother said the released hostages, who were held with her son for part of their nearly 500 days in captivity, told her that Alon Ohel is unable to see out of an eye after being struck by shrapnel when Hamas was closing in on Oct. 7, 2023. Alon Ohel, a civilian, was attending the Nova music festival when terrorists attacked, and he took cover in a bomb shelter. Hamas pounded the shelter with grenades and gunfire, and he «was taken, wounded, with blood all over him,» Idit Ohel said.
ISRAEL SLAMS PALESTINIAN ‘DECEPTION SCHEME’ OVER CLAIM IT HALTED TERROR REWARDS PROGRAM
A placard of Alon Ohel seen during a rally marking his 24th birthday in Tel Aviv. (Eyal Warshavsky/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
Alon Ohel’s ancestors survived the Holocaust, including his great-grandfather who weighed just 30 kilos [about 66 pounds] when he was released from the Auschwitz concentration camp, Idit Ohel said. «So if he was alive today, he would probably die instantly just knowing that his great-grandson in the year of 2025 is starving,» she said. «Alon has these genes. So he’s fighting. He’s fighting for his life every day.»
Under the deal, another three hostages were due to be released by next Saturday, but Hamas said Monday that the group would not let them go, accusing Israel of violating terms of the ceasefire agreement.
Concerns that fighting will resume are rising. Trump has since said that Hamas must release all remaining 76 hostages by noon Saturday, or he would demand the ceasefire deal be canceled and «let all hell break out.» Netanyahu backed the demand.
Israeli media is reporting that Trump’s envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, is being dispatched to Israel and Qatar this week to prevent the ceasefire deal from unraveling. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is expected in Israel on Saturday.
To Trump and Netayanhu directly, Idit Ohel said, «Do something and bring them home. Please. Please.»
Idit Ohel speaks to the crowd during a Tel Aviv rally marking the 24th Birthday of her son Alon Ohel who is held hostage by Hamas. (Eyal Warshavsky/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
«Give him a chance. It’s unbearable. Something has to change. You have to do everything in your power to bring him home to me, to his family,» she said. «There’s still hostages alive. There’s still hostages alive. Please. Please, do something.»
Idit Ohel said she learned her son is being held in tunnels without medical attention and little food and has been «tortured, chained and starved.»
«It’s not humane. There’s so much food getting into Gaza, and he’s not getting any of it,» she said.
HAMAS SAYS IT’S DELAYING NEXT HOSTAGE RELEASE, CLAIMING CEASEFIRE VIOLATIONS
«Alon, right now as we speak, is still being not fed, sleeping on the floor, being chained, constrained. So he cannot move for 494 days,» Idit Ohel said. «My son is important. My son is only an innocent civilian. He went to the Nova festival to have fun. He’s a pianist. He loves music. He did nothing wrong to nobody. We need to get him out now. He cannot continue. This is humanitarian.»
Days before Trump took office, Israel and Hamas reached a ceasefire agreement. Former President Joe Biden said at the time that the first phase involved a «surge of humanitarian assistance into Gaza» – something Idit Ohel stressed her son is not getting.
She said the International Committee of the Red Cross «have never seen Alon and have never seen any of the hostages – [he] didn’t get any treatment.»
Israelis stand under placards with photos of hostages during a rally in Tel Aviv marking the 24th Birthday of Alon Ohel, who is held by Hamas in Gaza. (Eyal Warshavsky/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
«Where is he? Why is he not coming?» Idit Ohel added. «I do not understand it. I will never understand it. This is wrong. This is not moral.»
Ohel rallied thousands in Tel Aviv over the weekend on her son’s 24th birthday – the second birthday he has spent in captivity since the Oct. 7 attacks.
«I wanted to say happy birthday to my son. I couldn’t even talk [to him] and see and hear his voice,» she said. «When I heard about his condition, I fainted … I haven’t been sleeping for days … I cannot control what Hamas is doing to my son.»
«Every mother in this world. Think just for a second. If there’s one night that your son or daughter doesn’t eat, you can’t even live with yourself,» Ohel added. «My son has not been getting food for 494 days.»
The mother also delivered a message directly to her son.
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«If you’re listening to me, you know I love you and your father loves you. And we’re doing everything in our power to make sure that you’re home alive. You’re coming home. And there’s so many people all over the world and in Israel that are with you and are praying for you,» Ohel said, asking fellow musicians to play songs in her son’s honor in the coming days. «And you are not alone, Alon. You are not alone.»
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