A court in Baghdad has sentenced 11 Iraqis to death for their role in multiple truck bombings last August.
More than 100 people died in the attacks on government ministries.
Those convicted included an alleged member of al-Qaeda in Iraq and a man who said he had received funding from a senior Baathist now living in Syria.
The attacks, the worst in more than a year, were a serious setback for a government that had built its reputation on establishing security.
Those convicted and sentenced to death included Salim Abed Jassim, who confessed that he received funding for the attacks from Brigadier General Nabil Abdul Rahman, a senior army officer during the rule of Saddam Hussein and now living in Syria.
Also sentenced to death by hanging were Ishaq Mohammed Abbas, an Al-Qaeda in Iraq leader and his brother Mustapha, the court official told AFP.
The verdict and sentences were announced after just one half-hour session, and it is not clear if defence lawyers were present.
The 19 August bombings took place just minutes apart outside the ministries of finance and foreign affairs, killing 106 people and wounding around 600 others.
Further huge attacks in October and December against government buildings killed hundreds more Iraqis.
Violence in Iraq dropped significantly in 2009, but correspondents say that further bombings are expected ahead of the parliamentary election scheduled for 7 March.
On Tuesday, Iraqi security forces were deployed in huge numbers in Baghdad, bringing the capital to a near standstill.
Security officials say the lockdown was imposed after a tip-off that militants were planning attacks across the city.
Source: BBC
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