Iraq Court Confirms Death Sentences For Church Attack

Debris litters the street outside the Syrian Catholic Church the morning after the deadly October 2010 attack.

An Iraqi appeals court has confirmed death sentences for three men convicted of a 2010 attack on a Syrian Catholic church in Baghdad that left more than 50 people dead and scores injured.

A spokesman for the Supreme Judicial Council said the sentence is “final" and was sent to the presidential council.

Under the Iraqi Constitution, the presidential council, comprising the president and two vice presidents, must ratify death sentences before they are carried out.

The three were sentenced to death on August 2, 2011, while an accomplice was given 20 years in prison.

At least 52 hostages and police were killed and 67 wounded in the attack, which ended when security forces stormed the church.

Al-Qaeda's Iraqi affiliate, the Islamic State of Iraq, claimed responsibility for the attack.

Compiled from agency reports