Iraqi court hands down death penalty to two Frenchmen
Islamic State fighters carry their swords following a battle with Iraqi security forces. File photo
Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) – An Iraqi court has sentenced two more Frenchmen to death for belonging to the Islamic State group, the latest in a series of verdicts against French nationals who fought for the terrorist group.
Bilel Kabaoui, 32, and Mourad Delhomme, 41, joined nine other French citizens and a Tunisian national, who were handed down death penalty in Iraq after trials over the past week.
All of them were arrested by the Syrian Democratic Forces in Syria and handed over to Iraqi authorities in February.
They all have 30 days to appeal the sentences.
Iraq has sentenced more than 500 suspected foreign members of IS since the start of 2018.
Human Rights Watch, for its part, has accused Iraqi interrogators of “using a range of torture techniques… which would not leave lasting marks on the person’s body”.
It also condemned France’s “outsourcing” of trials of IS suspects to “abusive justice systems” and criticized Iraq’s “routine failure… to credibly investigate torture allegations”.