The United Nations has condemned the assassination of an Iraqi human rights attorney by Islamic State militants this week, after the activist spoke out against the destruction the group has caused in Mosul.
Sameera Ali al-Nuaimy was kidnapped from her home and tortured for five days before being shot to death Monday in a public square.
The U.N. envoy to Iraq called the Islamic State's actions "cowardice beyond description."
The Gulf Center for Human Rights says the group likely killed al-Nuaimy over her civil and human rights work. She was also critical on social media of the Islamic State's destruction of Mosul's religious and cultural sites.
The militant group captured Iraq's second-largest city as it swept through the northern part of the country in June, establishing an extreme version of what it claims is Islamic law.