Iraqi woman activist publicly executed by Islamic State over critical Facebook post

An Iraqi woman human rights lawyer and activist was publicly executed by Islamic State militants for posting online criticism of the extremist group, the UN mission in Iraq said.

Stuff.co.nz reports that gunmen with the group's newly declared police force seized Samira Salih al-Nuaimi last week in a northeastern district of the Mosul while she was home with her husband and three children.

The woman in her Facebook post criticized the IS for destructing religious and cultural places in Mosul.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein said in a statement that Al-Nuaimy was seized from her home by IS fighters and tortured for days before she was killed in cold blood by a squad of so-called fighters.

The UN said that the activist was publicly executed by a masked firing squad in front of a government building in central Mosul, the UN said, the report added.