Iraq Sentences 11 to Death in Ministry Bombings

Iraq Sentences 11 to Death in Ministry Bombings
By NADA BAKRI
Copyright by The New York Times
Published: January 14, 2010
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/15/world/middleeast/15iraq.html?ref=global-home


BAGHDAD — A Baghdad court sentenced 11 Iraqis to death on Thursday for planning and carrying out a series of devastating attacks last summer.

The bombings, on Aug. 19, struck Iraq’s Foreign and Finance Ministries in the heart of the capital and embarrassed the government of Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki ahead of important parliamentary elections in March. the attacks also came less than two months after American combat troops withdrew from Iraqi cities, raising fears among many Iraqis that their security forces are not capable of maintaining security yet.

Judge Abdul Sattar al-Beeraqdar, a spokesman for Iraq’s Higher Judicial Council, said all 11 defendants were found guilty of financing, planning and participating in the bombings, which killed at least 95 people and wounded hundreds. The men have a month to appeal the sentence, he said.

The bombers, driving large trucks filled with fertilizer and explosives, were able to get close to the heavily guarded ministries in part due to relaxed security that Mr. Maliki’s government had ordered to cast a sense of normality over the city.

Following the attacks, a number of policemen in charge of the area were arrested on charges of negligence.

Iraqi and Western officials expect security to worsen in the weeks leading to the March 7 election.