Global Terrorism: Two French Citizens Sentenced To Death In Iraq Due To ISIS Involvement

An Iraqi court on Sunday sentenced two French nationals to death after finding them guilty of being members of the Islamic State (ISIS), a terrorist organization that used to control a wide swath of territory in Iraq, Reuters reported.

"There was sufficient evidence to hand down a death sentence. They both were fighters of the Islamic State terrorist organization," one of the prosecutors dealing with the case said. The verdict can be appealed in court.

Iraq has been conducting trials to punish former military personnel, Iraqi citizens and foreign nationals who were involved in the ISIS terrorist organization which used to control a large part of Iraq, including its second-largest city Mosul. The death sentences come after Iraq sentenced seven other French citizens to death who joined ISIS, in trials that have drawn criticism from human rights groups.

The sentencing is also a conundrum for France. Although the French Republic has assisted Iraq in its fight against ISIS, the death penalty is banned from use in not only France but also the EU. French President Emmanuel Macron has said he opposes the use of the death sentence as punishment and the French Foreign Ministry has been pushing to prevent their citizens from being put to death on Iraqi soil.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) has taken issue with how the Iraqi government treats alleged former ISIS members. All nine of the French nationals who were sentenced to death by the Iraqi government had been extradited from France. HRW has called the trials in Iraq "unfair" and alleges that the Iraqi government uses torture methods such as waterboarding on suspects. It also believes that France shouldn't be extraditing their citizens to Iraq, because it goes against The United Nations Convention Against Torture.

"France and other countries should not be outsourcing management of their terrorism suspects to abusive justice systems," Lama Fakih, the acting Middle East director at HRW said last week.

Three more French citizens are due to stand trial Monday in Iraq.