Iraq court sentences leading Daesh member to death

An Iraqi court on Wednesday sentenced a leading member of the Daesh terrorist group to death, according to a judicial source.

"The criminal court in Karkh [a district of Baghdad] has finished looking into the case of convicted terrorist Ismail al-Ithawi," Abdulsattar Bayrkdar, a spokesman for Iraq's Supreme Judicial Council, said in a statement.

According to Bayrkdar, al-Ithawi has held several important posts in the terrorist group, including assistant to Daesh leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

"At one point, al-Ithawi travelled to Syria before fleeing to Turkey after most of Iraq was liberated [from Daesh]," he said.

"But thanks to the Iraqi intelligence apparatus -- and coordination with Turkey -- he was ultimately found and arrested," Bayrkdar added.

In February, the Turkish authorities arrested al-Ithawi, also known as Abu Zeid al-Iraqi, and handed him over to the Iraqi authorities.

Last year, officials in Baghdad declared that Daesh's military presence in Iraq had been all but destroyed following a three-year conflict with the army.

The notorious terrorist group, however, still appears to maintain a limited presence in several parts of the country.