Qaeda leader’s wife gets 20 years in prison

Baghdad: An Iraqi judicial spokesman says a court has sentenced the wife of a slain al-Qaeda leader to 20 years in prison for terrorism-related charges. An Iraqi Supreme Judicial Council spokesman today said Hasna Ali Yahya, the Yemeni wife of Abu Ayyub al-Masri, was convicted last Thursday. Spokesman Abdul-Sattar Bayrkdar didn’t give details on the charges, but a government official said she was convicted of facilitating correspondence between insurgents and preparing explosive-laden belts. The official spoke on condition of anonymity as he was not authorised to release information. She has been in custody since the April 2010 joint US-Iraqi north of Baghdad that killed al-Masri along with another prominent al-Qaeda in Iraq militant. (AP)