BAGHDAD – An Iraqi court has sentenced the widow of an al-Qaeda leader to life in prison for her role in aiding insurgents’ activities, a spokesman for the country’s judicial council said yesterday.
Hasna Ali Yahya, the wife of former al-Qaeda leader in Iraq Abu Ayyub al-Masri, was given life imprisonment on Thursday, Abdul-Sattar al-Birqdar, spokesman for Iraq’s Supreme Judicial Council said.
“She was convicted last Thursday according to article four of the anti-terrorism law for cover and shelter to the terrorist group of Abu Ayyub al-Masri,” Birqdar said.
Masri, along with Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, the head of al-Qaeda’s local affiliate the Islamic State of Iraq, were killed last April in an operation by security forces.
Insurgents have stepped up attacks on Iraq’s police and army in recent months as the US military prepares to withdraw fully by December, more than eight years after the invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein. – (Reuters)