Man sentenced to death for killing police general during Doura demolition

BAGHDAD — A Baghdad court has sentenced Mohammed Abdul Majid Khalaf al-Tai to death for killing a police brigadier general and another member of the security forces during an operation to remove unauthorised buildings in Doura, 27 days after the shooting, a source familiar with the case said.

The Karkh Criminal Court convicted him on Wednesday of killing Brig. Gen. Hisham Mohammed Talaa and Khalid Abbas Lafta while they were on official duty, the source told 964media. “The Karkh Criminal Court issued a death sentence against the convicted Mohammed Abdul Majid Khalaf Al-Tai after finding him guilty of taking the lives of Brig. Gen. Hisham Mohammed Talaa and Khalid Abbas Lafta,” the source said, adding that the ruling was issued under laws covering attacks on security personnel carrying out official duties. There has been no statement from the judiciary.

Talaa, who directed the Baghdad Municipality Police Department on the Karkh side, and Lafta were killed on Aug. 27 when security forces and municipal teams came under fire while clearing unauthorised structures in Karara, in the Hayy Dijla area of Doura. Four others were wounded: a Federal Police member, two municipality police officers and a municipality employee.

Security forces arrested the suspected gunman on Aug. 29, after several days in which officials gave conflicting accounts of whether he was already in custody. The court has not said whether anyone else was charged over the attack, which early accounts described as carried out by gunmen.

The killings led authorities to increase deployments around encroached state land in Baghdad and to announce drone monitoring of encroachments across the capital, and parliament moved to investigate the unauthorised subdivision of agricultural land and the individuals and entities behind it. Talaa’s family called at his funeral for the government to deal with encroached land and enforce state control over weapons.