The Islamic State has publicly executed a human rights lawyer in Mosul in northern Iraq.

The family of Sameera Salih Ali al Nuaimy confirmed the execution to the UN office in Iraq, as did the lawyer’s colleagues and residents of the neighbourhood.

The killing was carried out on Monday in front of the Governorate building in the Dawasa area of central Mosul.

Nuaimy was a well-known activist on women’s rights and poverty. She often represented defendants in the Mosul courts pro bono.

Her “crime” may have been criticism of the Islamic State on her Facebook page last week, following the jihadists’ destruction of religious shrines in Mosul.

Last Wednesday, Islamic State fighters seized Nuaimy from her house and put her before a Sharia court. She was reportedly tortured for five days to force her to “repent” for the Facebook post. When she refused, she was condemned to death.