An Iraqi court ordered on Thursday the death penalty against the kidnappers and murderers of former Egyptian Ambassador Ihab al-Sharif. The Karkh Criminal Court in Baghdad heard the cases of two suspects who pleaded guilty to the kidnapping, read a court statement. “The court found the evidence and confessions sufficient to issue a death sentence by hanging,” it added. In July 2005, Sharif was kidnapped just two days after arriving in the Baghdad. The al-Qaeda affiliate in Iraq, which at the time was led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and was operating at its peak in the country, claimed responsibility for the kidnapping. Sharif was appointed to his post in line with an agreement reached between Cairo and Baghdad to restore diplomatic ties that were cut since 1991 over the eruption of the Gulf war when Egypt supported the US operation to liberate Kuwait. After the assassination, Egypt suspended its diplomatic mission in Iraq until a new ambassador was appointed in 2010.