The US military announced that the central criminal court of Iraq last week convicted 12 insurgents, sentencing one to death and four others to life in prison. It said that Mahdi Ahmed al-Juburi was found guilty of leading an insurgent cell in the northern city of Mosul after admitting to conducting operations against Iraqi security forces.The military said: "The defendant believes in killing coalition forces, Iraqi police and Iraqi National Guard members because he says they are not enforcing God's will.
"The defendant has regularly kidnapped people, interrogated them and then killed them, frequently in front of their families." He also allegedly confessed to killing an army colonel.
The other four men sentenced to life had been arrested by US-led coalition forces after a search of their house turned up a badly beaten Egyptian who had been held for the past 18 days and a large number of weapons. The remaining trials involved sentences ranging from two to 10 years for cases of weapons possession and illegal entry into Iraq.