France has confirmed it would take “the necessary steps” to try to prevent Iraq carrying out the death penalty against three French citizens convicted of fighting with Islamic State.

The French foreign ministry said on Monday: “France is opposed in principle to the death penalty at all times and in all places.”

It said the detained men were receiving consular assistance to ensure they had legal representation ahead of an expected appeal, which they have 30 days to lodge. The three men were sentenced on Sunday.

It added, however, that France “respects the sovereignty of Iraq’s institutions”.

The French government has long insisted its adult citizens captured in Iraq or Syria should face trial locally, refusing to repatriate them despite the fact they are at risk of capital punishment.

The three French Isis members – Kevin Gonot, Leonard Lopez and Salim Machou – were transferred to Iraq for trial after being caught by US-backed forces in Syria.

They were among 13 French nationals caught in eastern Syria and handed to Iraqi authorities in February on suspicion of being members of the group’s feared contingent of foreign fighters.

Iraq has taken custody of thousands of jihadists, and the Iraqi judiciary said recently that it had tried and sentenced more than 500 suspected foreign members of Isis since the start of 2018.

Its courts have condemned many to life in prison and others to death, though none have yet been executed. </s> The French foreign ministry said on Monday it was opposed in principle to the death penalty, but also said it accepted Iraqi sovereignty as Iraq’s justice ministry sentenced three French citizens to death for their membership of ISIS.

 

“The French embassy in Iraq, in its role as provider of consular protection, is taking the necessary steps to convey its position (against the death penalty) to the Iraq authorities,” the foreign ministry said in a statement.

“France is opposed in principle to the death penalty at all times and in all places,” the foreign ministry said in a statement after the three ISIS members were sentenced on Sunday. They have 30 days to appeal the ruling.



 The ministry added that it respected the sovereignty of the Iraq authorities and that ISIS members “had to answer for their crimes”, which carry the death penalty in Iraq. </s> An Iraqi court sentenced three French citizens to death on Sunday after they were found guilty of joining Islamic State (Isis), a court official said.

Captured in Syria by a US-backed force fighting the jihadists, they are the first French Isis members to receive death sentences in Iraq, where they were transferred for trial.

Named as Kevin Gonot, Leonard Lopez and Salim Machou, they have 30 days to appeal.

Iraq has taken custody of thousands of jihadists repatriated in recent months from neighbouring Syria, where they were caught by the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces during the battle against Isis.

Iraqi courts have placed hundreds of foreigners on trial, condemning many to life in prison and others to death, although no foreign Isis members have yet been executed.

Those sentenced on Sunday were among 12 French citizens who were caught in Syria and transferred to Iraqi custody in February.

Rights groups including Human Rights Watch have criticised Iraq’s anti-terror trials, which they say often rely on circumstantial evidence or confessions obtained under torture.

The country remains in the top five “executioner” nations in the world, according to an Amnesty International report in April.

Analysts have also warned that prisons in Iraq have in the past acted as “academies” for future jihadists, including Isis leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. </s> A court in Iraq has sentenced three men to death after finding them guilty of joining Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS), officials confirmed on Sunday.A court official, who spoke to the press on condition of anonymity, said the trio were sentenced "after it was proven that they were members of the terrorist Islamic State organization."The men have 30 days to appeal their conviction.The three were reportedly captured in Syria by US-backed forces before being brought to Iraq for trial.While hundreds of foreign fighters have been tried in Iraq for IS membership and activities, none have yet been executed. These are the first French members to be sentenced to death by an Iraqi court.According to French government figures, up to 1,700 in the four years up to 2018 to fight with IS. It's not clear how many of the survivors would be repatriated to France,and instead will consider the return of children on a case-by-case basis.Earlier this year French Secretary of State Laurent Nunez said that any jihadists returning to France will face prosecution, telling BFMTV "they will all be put on trial and incarcerated." </s> Three French men have been sentenced to death by an Iraqi court after being found guilty of joining ISIS .

Kevin Gonot, Leonard Lopez and Salim Machou are the first French nationals to receive death sentences in Iraq.

They were among 12 other French citizens being prosecuted by the court over their alleged allegiance to the terrorist organisation.

"They were sentenced to execution after it was proven that they were members of the terrorist Islamic State organisation," said one court official, who declined to be named as he was not authorised to speak to the media.

The trio were captured in Syria by the Syrian Democratic Forces and have 30 days to appeal.

Iraq has taken in thousands of jihadists repatriated from Syria after they were captured by the US-backed force during the battle to capture ISIS' so-called "caliphate".

Hundreds were put on trial, with many of those convicted either sentenced to life in prison or death.

But it is the first time Iraq - among the five top 'executioner' nations in the world - convicts a French citizen to death.

It is understood it is only the second time the court sentences a foreigner to death.

Iraq’s Central Criminal Court in May revealed details of how it sentenced Tarek Jadaoun, 30, also known as Abu Hamza al-Beljiki, for being a senior fighter for the terrorist group.

He joined the organisation in 2014 before being arrested in Mosul, once ISIS' Iraqi stronghold, last summer.

“Al-Beljiki, who is of Moroccan origin, is one of the most wanted foreign fighters who fought on behalf of the terrorist organisation in Syria and Iraq,” Judge Abdul-Sattar al-Birqdar, the spokesman for the Supreme Judicial Council, said in a statement.

Human Rights Watch has criticised the Middle Eastern country's anti-terror trials, which it claims are usually only based on circumstantial evidence or confessions obtained through torture.

Tens of thousands of foreigners have travelled to Syria and Iraq to fight for ISIS or its precursor, al Qaeda, since 2003.

While the UN said 40,000 foreigners are believed to have joined the terrorist groups abroad, a King's College study in July found just short of 41,500 from 80 countries were affiliated with ISIS.

Some 5,904 of these were from Western Europe, while the biggest amount, 18,852, came from the Middle East and North Africa. </s> Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) Iraqi judiciary sentenced on Tuesday seven foreign women of various nationalities to death and life in jail over affiliation with Islamic State militants, news reports said.

The Supreme Judicial Council said in a statement that the Central Criminal Court sentenced three Azerbaijanis and one Kergyz to death, while issuing a life sentence for two Russians and a French national.

Earlier news reports quoted AFP identifying the French nationa as 29-year-old Jamila Botoato.

In February, Iraq sentenced a French woman to seven months in jail for entering the country illegally. In the same month, 16 Turkish women were sentenced to death for providing logistical support to the militants.

Iraq is holding hundreds of foreign wives and children of Islamic State militants who were captured as Iraqi forces gradually seized back territories held by the extremist group since 2014. The government declared victory over IS last December.

Authorities say they are coordinating with other countries to extradite those held who are not convicted of terrorism. </s> Baghdad: Iraq sentenced a French woman to life in prison for belonging to the Islamic State group, the latest in a series of court rulings since the country's defeat of Islamic State.

Djamila Boutoutaou, a 29-year-old of Algerian origin, told a Baghdad court that she had left France with her husband, a rapper.

She said she thought they were going on holiday but "when I arrived in Turkey I discovered that my husband was a jihadist".

She said she was forced by her husband to join Islamic State and live in the "caliphate" that the jihadists proclaimed in 2014 straddling Syria and Iraq.

Her husband was killed near the former jihadist stronghold of Mosul, northern Iraq, and her son died in bombardment, Boutoutaou said.

Two Russian women, both holding children in their arms, were also sentenced to life in prison at the same hearing.

Iraq declared victory in December against Islamic State, which at one point controlled a third of the country. The Iraqi anti-terrorism law empowers courts to convict people who are believed to have helped Islamic State even if they are not accused of violence.

In January, an Iraqi court condemned a German woman to death after finding her guilty of belonging to Islamic State.

A court the following month sentenced another French woman to seven months in jail for entering Iraq illegally but ordered her release on time already served.

Several dozen Turkish women have been sentenced to death under Iraqi anti-terrorism laws. </s> Iraqi court sentences 3 French members of IS to death

BAGHDAD (AP) — A Baghdad court Sunday sentenced to death three French citizens for being members of the Islamic State group, an Iraqi judicial official said. The verdict raised fresh questions about the legal treatment of thousands of foreign nationals formerly with the extremist group.

The official said the three were among 12 French citizens whom the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces handed over to Iraq in January.

They can appeal the sentences within a month, according to the official.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to speak to the media. Iraqi President Barham Saleh had said during a February visit to Paris that the 12 will be prosecuted in accordance with Iraqi laws.

The SDF has handed over to Iraq hundreds of suspected IS members in recent months.

The trials of the French nationals in Baghdad raise the difficult question of whether foreign IS suspects should be tried and punished in the country of their alleged crimes, even when there are serious doubts about the impartiality of the courts in Iraq and Syria. The thousands of men and women who came from around the world to join the self-styled Islamic caliphate have been left in limbo following the group's territorial defeat earlier this year in Syria. Many of their home countries hesitate to take back citizens they see as having gone willingly to join the extremist group.

In March, Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi asserted Iraq's authority to try foreign IS suspects detained in Syria because "the battlefields were one."

The three men are the first French IS members to receive death sentences in Iraq. It wasn't immediately clear how France, which abolished the death penalty nearly four decades ago, will react to the sentence. It could be a test for how the international community handles the thousands of foreign nationals who stayed, or were trapped, with the Islamic State group through its dying days.

The women and children are languishing in camps run by the Kurdish forces that led the fight against IS in northeast Syria, where the militants made their last stand. Thousands more men are detained by the Kurdish-led SDF, held in jails in northeast Syria on the suspicion that they fought for IS.

Iraqi prosecutors say the 12 French nationals are accused of belonging to IS, were parties or accomplices to its crimes, and threatened the national security of Iraq. Simply belonging to the extremist group is punishable by life in prison or execution under Iraq's counter-terrorism laws.

A French diplomatic official, speaking on condition of anonymity to speak freely about policy, said France recognizes the right of Iraq to try people for crimes committed in Iraq.

But human rights groups and advocates of the men in France say it is not certain that the men committed crimes in Iraq, or if they were even ever in the country. They also doubt the impartiality of the courts, which have handed down hundreds of death sentences to Iraqi suspects in trials that run for just a few minutes.

Iraq has detained or imprisoned at least 19,000 people accused of connections to IS or other terror-related offenses, and sentenced more than 3,000 of them to death, according to an analysis by The Associated Press last year. </s> Iraqi court sentences 3 French members of IS to death

BAGHDAD (AP) — A Baghdad court on Sunday sentenced three French citizens to death for being members of the Islamic State group, an Iraqi judicial official said. They were the first French IS members to receive death sentences in Iraq, where they were transferred for trial from neighboring Syria.

The verdict raised new questions about the legal treatment of thousands of foreign nationals formerly with the extremist group. Many now languish in prisons in Iraq or detention camps in northern Syria. Their home countries hesitate to take back citizens they see as having gone willingly to join the militant group.

The official said the three were among 12 French citizens whom the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces handed over to Iraq in January. The Kurdish-led group spearheads the fight against IS in Syria and has handed over to Iraq hundreds of suspected IS members in recent months.

The convicted French militants can appeal the sentences within a month, according to the official, who official spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to speak to the media.

Iraqi President Barham Saleh had said during a February visit to Paris that the 12 will be prosecuted in accordance with Iraqi laws. In March, Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi asserted Iraq's authority to try foreign IS suspects detained in Syria because "the battlefields were one."

The trials of the French nationals in Baghdad raise the difficult question of whether foreign IS suspects should be tried and punished in the country of their alleged crimes, even when there are serious doubts about the impartiality of the courts in Iraq and Syria.

Human rights groups including Human Rights Watch have criticized Iraq's handling of IS trials, accusing authorities of relying on circumstantial evidence and often extracting confessions under torture.

The thousands of men and women who came from around the world to join the self-styled Islamic caliphate have been left in limbo following the group's territorial defeat earlier this year in Syria.

The three men are the first French IS members to receive death sentences in Iraq. It wasn't immediately clear how France, which abolished the death penalty nearly four decades ago, will react to the sentence.

The trials are a test for how the international community handles the thousands of foreign nationals who stayed, or were trapped, with the Islamic State group through its dying days.

Iraqi prosecutors say the 12 French nationals are accused of belonging to IS, were parties or accomplices to its crimes, and threatened the national security of Iraq. Simply belonging to the extremist group is punishable by life in prison or execution under Iraq's counter-terrorism laws.

Judge Ali Hassan Jaafar, who presided over a closed-door court hearing, on May 2, to review the evidence that will be admitted to the trials, said the evidence showed all twelve men had crossed illegally into Iraq, when IS controlled part of the border between Syria and Iraq, and all twelve had committed crimes in the country.

But even if they were never present in the country, they could still be tried in Iraq under the country's wide-reaching counter-terrorism laws, he said.

In an interview with The Associated Press earlier this month, Judge Jaafar said the evidence against the 12 men included their personal testimonies, the fact that they were caught with IS in Syria, three propaganda videos or audio clippings published by the group, and IS documents recovered in Iraq by Iraq's security forces.

"The first piece of evidence against them is that they were found with IS, in Syria, in the last days of the organization's existence," said the judge. "What else could they have been doing there?"

A French diplomatic official, speaking to the AP earlier this month on condition of anonymity to speak freely about policy, said France recognizes the right of Iraq to try people for crimes committed in Iraq.

But human rights groups and advocates of the men in France say it is not certain that the men committed crimes in Iraq, or if they were even ever in the country. They also doubt the impartiality of the courts, which have handed down hundreds of death sentences to Iraqi suspects in trials that run for just a few minutes.

"There's zero presumption of innocence when they walk into the courtroom," said Belkis Wille, the senior Iraq researcher at Human Rights Watch.

The U.N. envoy for Iraq, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, said member states bear primary responsibility for their own nationals, including the treatment of their citizens in accordance with international law.

"Normatively, one would expect and hope that individual states take back their nationals to process, prosecute, and deradicalize them," she said, in response to a query from AP. She said the U.N.'s human rights office regularly attends trials as part of its broader trial monitoring program but does not comment publicly on individual cases.

Iraq has detained or imprisoned at least 19,000 people accused of connections to IS or other terror-related offenses, and sentenced more than 3,000 of them to death, according to an analysis by the AP last year.
Iraq sentences three French militants to death for their involvement in ISIS.