Iraq Sentences 'One Iranian and Four Iraqis' to Life Imprisonment for Murder of American Teacher

An Iranian and four Iraqis were sentenced to life imprisonment on Thursday for the murder of an American citizen named Stephen Troell in Baghdad. According to Reuters, this news was reported by two legal sources. Iraqi police had stated last November that Troell was killed during an unsuccessful kidnapping attempt. A legal source said, 'The Iranian man was the mastermind of the crime.' This source added that all five were arrested immediately after Troell's murder in Iraq. Court officials did not name the defendants but stated that the four Iraqis were members of a Shiite Muslim militia group. Police sources had previously reported in November that the American citizen was killed in central Baghdad. These sources indicated that his body was transferred to a hospital in the capital, and the initial hospital report suggested that the death was due to gunfire. A police source told Reuters that the victim had an identification card indicating his occupation as an English teacher. Another police source said that armed men shot at the SUV carrying the victim from a vehicle and killed him with gunfire. Foreign experts have repeatedly pointed out that the Islamic Republic has effectively engaged in hostage-taking through the abduction of opponents from foreign countries or the detention of foreign citizens in Iran. In mid-July of this year, the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated that a Shiite militia group in Iraq was holding an Israeli researcher who had been missing in Iraq for months. Her name is reported to be Elizabeth Tsurkov, a 36-year-old PhD student at Princeton University in the United States. Tsurkov's family and individuals familiar with her case say that the Kata'ib Hezbollah group abducted her after she left a café in Baghdad in late March and has held her against her will. Kata'ib Hezbollah is an Iraqi militia group close to the Islamic Republic of Iran. She last posted on Twitter on the first day of Farvardin. The meeting of the U.S. Special Envoy's deputy for Iran with the children of Sharmeh: He should not have been arrested. Jamshid Sharmeh's daughter: They want to sentence my father to death like Ruhollah Zam. Eight individuals related to Iranian intelligence were arrested; a plot to assassinate an Israeli businessman in Istanbul was thwarted. Blinken: The strategy of 'deterrence, pressure, and diplomacy' towards Iran will continue. The son of Shahab Dalili: I will continue my sit-in and hunger strike until the U.S. government assures me it is pursuing my father's situation. Mike Turner, an American lawmaker: Congress should consider a travel ban to Iran.