ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – A local court in the Iraqi province of Karbala sentenced to death on Thursday a man convicted of being behind two car bombings in a market six years ago.

The incident occurred in 2012 in the vegetable market of the Karbala town of Al-Hindiya and resulted in the deaths of seven people, wounding more than 30 others.

The Supreme Judicial Council in a statement said that the Karbala Criminal Court considered the defendant’s case, convicted him of having carried out the attacks, and sentenced him to be “hung to death.”

The statement did not reveal the identity of the alleged terrorist.

“The terrorist admitted to exploding the two cars,” the statement read, adding that the court issued its verdict according to the Iraqi anti-terrorism law.

So far, Iraqi authorities have not released the number of terrorism suspects currently in jail, or those facing capital punishment or life imprisonment.

Iraq has accelerated the pace of prosecutions against individuals charged with carrying out terrorist acts since Baghdad declaring final victory over the Islamic State (IS) after a devastating three-year-long war.

Various human rights organizations, including the United Nations, have repeatedly expressed their concerns with the rising number of death sentences in Iraq.

Aside from their condemnation, the organizations warn that Iraqi authorities’ efforts to hasten the implementation of death sentences could lead to the execution of innocent people.

Editing by Nadia Riva