Iraq sentences 27 to death over Camp Speicher massacre

A court in Baghdad sentenced 27 men to death on Tuesday over the massacre at Iraq's Camp Speicher, near the city of Tikrit. Some 1,700 soldiers were reportedly slaughtered and buried in mass graves when "Islamic State" (IS) militants took the compound in 2014.

"The Central Criminal Court issued a verdict to execute 27 defendants after proving they were involved in Speicher massacre," said a spokesman for Iraq's Supreme Judicial Council, as quoted by Chinese news agency Xinhua.

The death sentences must now be reviewed by the country's Court of Cassation before they are carried out.

If the capital punishments are approved, this would mark the second time that Iraq has carried out a mass execution in response to the mass execution.

On June 12, 2014, terrorists overran the former US camp near Tikrit and killed at least 1,566 Iraqi Air Force cadets. IS later released propaganda material depicting what are believed to be soldiers from the base being dumped out of trucks into shallow graves.

Last August, the Iraqi government executed 36 men convicted of participating in the massacre. The men were placed on a fast-track to capital punishment by the government, in a move heavily criticized by the United Nations and rights groups.