ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - An Iraqi court has sentenced the killer of a Baghdad provincial council member - who was also a parliamentary candidate - to death and life imprisonment, according to a statement issued Wednesday by the Iraqi Supreme Judicial Council.
“The Karkh Criminal Court issued a death sentence and a life imprisonment sentence for the killer of Baghdad Provincial Council member Safaa al-Mashhadani,” the Council said in a statement published on its official website.
The Council explained that the convicted man had “planted an explosive device” under Mashhadani’s vehicle in Baghdad’s northern Tarmiya district in mid-October, which led to his death.
“The sentence was issued in accordance with Article 406(1)(A)(B) of the Penal Code No. 111 of 1969, as amended,” the statement added.
Article 406 stipulates that premeditated murder constitutes a capital offense punishable by death when specific aggravating circumstances are present. These provisions are frequently applied by Iraqi high courts, particularly in cases involving targeted assassinations or organized crime, and distinguish such crimes from “standard” murder.
In addition to the death sentence, the Karkh Criminal Court also handed down a life imprisonment sentence to the same convict for “the attempted murder of four people who were with the victim at the time of the incident,” the judiciary said.