SULAIMANI (ESTA) — An Iraqi court on Sunday sentenced to death a police officer and an informant over a deadly operation in December that left 20 people from the same family dead, stage news agency INA reported.
“The Babil criminal court has issued a death sentence by hanging for two of the defendants,” the judicial council said, according to INA.
The judicial council further said the other defendants would be tried later.
Security forces in December opened fire on a house in the village of al-Rashayed in Babil, killing 20 people including women and children, under the pretext of pursuing two suspected “terrorists”.
But it was later revealed that a family dispute had motivated an informant to give “false intelligence” to police on the presence of “two terrorists” in the house, according to a judiciary statement issued in January.
AFP cited a judiciary source as saying that the two men can appeal the verdict, handed down by the criminal court in the central province of Babil.
The source told AFP that an intelligent officer from the interior ministry, who led the operation, was also condemned to death.
Eighteen others, including both civilians and security forces, who participated in the operation await sentencing, AFP reported.
