Three French nationals jailed for life in Iraq for Islamic State ties


A court building where French nationals accused of belonging to Islamic State are standing trial in Baghdad, Iraq, September 20, 2026. REUTERS/Ahmed Saad

BAGHDAD, Oct 29 (Reuters) - ⁠Three French nationals were sentenced to ⁠life in prison in Iraq on Thursday ‌for belonging to Islamic State, with their lawyers and French embassy representatives present at the hearing, a court ​statement said.

The three were among ⁠47 French Islamic ⁠State suspects transferred from detention facilities in northeast ⁠Syria ‌to Iraq last year.

On Tuesday, six French nationals from the same ⁠group were sentenced to life in prison ​and a ‌seventh to 15 years for belonging to ⁠the Islamist ​militant group.

Islamic State seized large parts of Iraq and Syria in 2014 before being driven ⁠from its self-declared caliphate by ​a US-led coalition and local forces in 2019. Many of its fighters were detained, but ⁠remnants of the organisation continue to operate.

The United States announced in January that it was completing the transfer of Islamic State detainees ​from Syria to Iraq amid ⁠concerns about the security of their detention ​facilities after Kurdish-led forces lost ‌control of parts of ​the region.

(Reporting by Muayad Hameed; Writing by Tala Ramadan; Editing by Kevin Liffey)

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