Iraq court sentences Basra officer's killer to death

BAGHDAD, Iraq — Iraq's Supreme Judicial Council said a court in Basra has sentenced a defendant to death for the killing of an officer assigned to the city's criminal police directorate. According to a statement from the council's media center, the Basra Felony Court issued the ruling after the indictment classified the attack as a terrorist act intended to destabilize security. The victim, identified as Hussein Asad Abu Risha, was serving as a commissioned officer with the Basra Criminal Police Directorate at the time of his death. Investigators concluded that the defendant carried out the killing deliberately and with a terrorist objective, prompting a case under Iraq's 2005 Counter-Terrorism Law. The court found the evidence collected during the investigation sufficient to convict. The Judicial Council said the legal proceedings for the case have been completed with the entry of the verdict into force.