IRAQ. CENTRAL CRIMINAL COURT CONVICTS 65 INSURGENTS

October 15, 2006: Iraq's Central Criminal Court has sentenced an al-Qaida member to death and convicted 64 others on charges of belonging to armed groups and other crimes, the US military command said. The military's statement did not name the man condemned to death, but said he was a "known member of the al-Qaida organization."
Other defendants were convicted of membership in similar groups, possession of illegal weapons, document forgery, escaping from prison, and making violent threats in trials held between September 15 and October 4, the military said in a statement. Established in April 2004, the Central Criminal Court had held 1,612 trials for suspected insurgents. The proceedings resulted in 1,374 convictions with sentences ranging up to death. (Sources: The Associated Press, 15/10/2006)