Iraqi intelligence services are questioning 47 French nationals, recently transferred from Syrian Kurdish custody, over their alleged involvement in crimes committed in Iraq by the Islamic State group, officials said Friday.
“Iraq received 47 French nationals over a month ago from the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), and they are currently under investigation,” an Iraqi security official told AFP on condition of anonymity because they were not allowed to brief the media.
“They belong to Daesh,” he said, using the Arabic acronym for IS.
The official said the security services also had documentary evidence and testimonies from Iraqi suspects that implicated the French nationals in “crimes against Iraqis”.
“They will be tried under Iraqi law,” the official said.
Iraq’s National Intelligence Service confirmed that the French nationals would face trial in Iraq.
It said the suspects were “wanted by the Iraqi judiciary for their involvement in terrorist crimes committed in Iraq” after the group captured swathes of the country in 2014.
Some of them were involved “in activities that threatened Iraqi national security from outside the country”, it added.
Iraqi courts have handed down hundreds of death sentences and life prison terms to people convicted of “terrorism” in trials some human rights groups have denounced as rushed.
Iraqi courts sentenced 11 French nationals to death in 2019, all of whom remain on death row.
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© Agence France-Presse
