A group of French nationals, suspected of belonging to the Islamic State (IS), on trial in Iraq could face execution, a member of Iraq’s Supreme Judicial Council told a hearing in Baghdad on Sunday.
The six men, who are accused of crimes against Iraq and its people, are facing prosecution under Iraq’s counterterrorism law.
According to court legal sources, the defendants were among 47 French IS detainees moved from prisons in northeast Syria last year, part of a wider transfer overseen by Iraqi authorities and U.S. forces.
The presiding judge adjourned proceedings until 5 October to give defence lawyers more time to examine the case file. A court-appointed lawyer representing one of the defendants, Abbas al-Maliki, said his client faced a single charge: membership of the Islamic State.
Officials from the French embassy attended the hearing, though the embassy did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The case is the latest in a long-running series of prosecutions of foreign IS suspects in Iraqi courts.
Courts in Baghdad have tried hundreds of foreigners captured after the militant group's defeat, since Kurdish-led forces began handing the prisoners over. Sentences have ranged from lengthy prison terms to execution.
Iraq's Foreign Minister, Fuad Hussein, said in February that Baghdad was in talks with other countries about repatriating their citizens, and had asked for international funding to help manage the growing number of prisoners.
IS controlled large areas of Iraq and Syria from 2014, before being driven out by a U.S.-led coalition five years later. Although its territorial “caliphate” collapsed, remnants of the group continue to operate in both countries.
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