An Iraqi criminal court on Sunday (February 25th) sentenced to death 15 Turkish women after finding them guilty of belonging to the "Islamic State of Iraq and Syria" (ISIS), AFP reported.

Another Turkish woman accused of joining the group was given a life sentence, a judicial official said, adding they had all acknowledged the charges against them.

Four of the women, all of whom were dressed in black, were accompanied by young children, he said.

Aged between 20 and 50, the women said they had entered Iraq illegally to join their husbands who were heading to fight for the self-proclaimed "caliphate" straddling vast areas of Iraq and Syria, the official added.

One of them told the judge she had taken part in fighting against Iraqi forces alongside the extremists, he said.

Supreme Judicial Council spokesman Abdul Sattar Bayraqdar told AFP the women had a month to appeal.

Last week, another group of foreign widows of ISIS fighters told a court hearing they had been fooled or threatened by their husbands to head to Iraq.

Iraq's anti-terrorism law empowers courts to convict people who are believed to have helped ISIS even if they are not accused of carrying out attacks.

It also allows for the death penalty to be issued against anyone -- including non-combatants -- found guilty of belonging to ISIS.