Iraq court gives al Qaeda leader's wife life sentence

BAGHDAD: An Iraqi court has sentenced the wife of a slain al-Qaeda leader to life in prison for her role in aiding insurgents' activities, a spokesman for the country's judicial council said on Sunday.

Hasna Ali Yahya, the wife of former al Qaeda leader in Iraq Abu Ayyub al-Masri, was given life imprisonment on Thursday, Abdul-Sattar al-Birqdar, spokesman for Iraq's Supreme Judicial Council said.

"She was convicted last Thursday according to article four of the anti-terrorism law for (providing) cover and shelter to the terrorist group of Abu Ayyub al-Masri," Birqdar told Reuters.

Iraqi and US forces have scored big victories against al Qaeda's Iraq affiliate in recent times but the Sunni Islamist insurgency remains lethal and carries out dozens of attacks each month.

Masri, along with Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, the head of al Qaeda's local affiliate the Islamic State of Iraq, were killed last April in an operation by security forces.

Insurgents have stepped up attacks on Iraq's police and army in recent months as the US military prepares to withdraw fully by December, more than eight years after the invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein.

A suicide bomber in a wheelchair blew himself up at a police station in the northern outskirts of Baghdad on Sunday, wounding at least 12 people.

Copyright Reuters, 2011