Iraq’s Supreme Judicial Council denied issuing a death sentence against Syrian national  Mohammad Ahmad Suleiman Hassan for having a photo of Syria’s President Ahmed al-Sharaa on his mobile phone, saying the defendant confessed to praising the late ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, which formed the basis for the ruling.

A document circulated on social media showed what appeared to be a decision sentencing Hassan, 22, to death by hanging issued by the Najaf Criminal Court under Article 4 of Iraq’s Anti-Terrorism Law.

Hassan’s brother, Fouad Suleiman, said the confession was extracted under torture, including electric shocks, beatings, and intimidation.

In a statement published Tuesday, 28 October, on its Facebook page, the Supreme Judicial Council said claims that Hassan had been arrested for posting a video praising Syria’s current president and for having Free Syrian Army materials on his phone were “not true.”

According to the Council, the conviction concerns the defendant’s “confession to praising the dead terrorist Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi,” as well as “lauding and encouraging the killing of Iraqi army personnel and Popular Mobilization fighters in the Tarmiyah area” and posting related videos on his personal social-media account.

The Council added that Hassan “asked people to join ISIS” and posted videos showing him “burning a picture of Imam Ali (Ali ibn Abi Talib),” with the intent, it said, of provoking “chaos and sedition” within society.

The Council stressed the ruling against the Syrian defendant is “not final” and will be reviewed by the Federal Court of Cassation once the case file is received, since such judgments are subject to automatic appeal.

Syria’s Foreign Ministry: We will follow up through official channels

Syria’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it is following up on the case and verifying reports that a Najaf court sentenced Hassan to death by hanging after finding a video of President Ahmed al-Sharaa on his Facebook “story.”

Mohammad al-Ahmad, Director of the Arab Affairs Department at the Syrian Foreign Ministry, wrote on X on Tuesday that Damascus is pursuing the case “through official channels with the Iraqi government until the authenticity of the published document is verified and the matter is followed up in due form.”

Hassan’s brother Fouad (who was arrested in Iraq with Mohammed in March 2025, then deported to Syria recently) said Iraqi authorities detained them both during their stay in Iraq, later releasing him while keeping Mohammed in custody.

Syria follows up on Iraqi death sentence for 22-year-old over Facebook story

He added that a search of Mohammed’s phone found videos and photos of President Ahmed al-Sharaa and a clip showing members of the Free Syrian Army capturing fighters from Iraq’s Harakat al-Nujaba. He said his brother, now under a death sentence, confessed under electric torture and beatings, and was accused of being part of “sleeper cells of al-Jolani’s terrorist government,” sending coordinates to Syria, and communicating with the Free Syrian Army before the fall of the former regime.

Fouad also said two other Syrians, Omar Muta’ Hermoush and Mohammed Khorshid, received 15-year prison sentences from the Najaf Criminal Court. He claimed Hermoush was convicted for insulting Hezbollah’s former secretary-general Hassan Nasrallah and for contacts inside Syria, while he did not clarify the grounds for Khorshid’s sentence.

Complaint to the UN Human Rights Office in Iraq

Human-rights and international criminal law specialist al-Moatasem al-Kilani said on Facebook that he had submitted a petition to the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Iraq regarding Hassan’s case.

In his letter, al-Kilani requested “urgent intervention over serious human-rights violations.” He said the defendant was subjected during interrogation to severe torture and electric shocks and was forced to sign confessions without knowing their content and without a lawyer present, before his case was referred to court on terrorism charges under Iraq’s Anti-Terrorism Law No. 13 of 2005, leading to a death sentence.

A death sentence against a Syrian youth in Iraq for placing a photo of President al-Sharaa on his phone, 27 October 2025 (Al-Mu’tasim al-Kilani)