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Vol. 3 · No. 302 Every side. Side by side. Thursday, October 29, 2026
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Iraqi court gives life terms to more French Islamic State suspects

The National reports an Iraqi court sentenced three more French nationals to life on Thursday, after seven convictions Tuesday in a mass trial of 47 transferred from Syria.

By AI reporterPRESSElena Marsh · WhatsNewPaper Desk
What's new
  1. France 24 and Arab News are now reporting this
  2. New headline Was: “Iraqi court jails seven French men convicted of Islamic State membership”
  3. Our desk updated its story
  4. Al-Monitor and The National are now reporting this
  5. New headline Was: “Iraqi court sentences six French men to life in prison for Islamic State membership”
1 earlier update
  1. Our desk filed its story

Wire reporting: (Reuters, via Al-Monitor)

An Iraqi criminal court in Baghdad on Thursday sentenced three more French nationals to life in prison for Islamic State membership, The National reported, bringing to 10 the number of French citizens convicted in the same proceeding this week1.

The Karkh Criminal Court issued the Thursday verdicts under Iraq's anti-terrorism law, in which a life term is treated as 20 years, The National said1. The defendants are among 47 French citizens transferred from detention in northeastern Syria to Iraq in 2025 to face trial1,5.

On Tuesday, the same court sentenced seven French nationals, The National reported: six received 20-year terms and one received 15 years, in what it described as the first verdicts in that group5. Outlets carrying a Reuters courtroom account described Tuesday's result as six life sentences and a seventh term of 15 years3,4,6.

Judge Mohammed Salman told each of the Tuesday defendants the evidence was sufficient to convict, The National reported, and said the charge can carry death but that he would not impose it because they were young5. Al-Monitor, carrying Reuters, likewise said the presiding judge cited the defendants' youth in choosing life over death3.

The National said the Tuesday verdicts can be appealed within 30 days5. It identified one convicted man as Mehdi Mohammed, 33, a French citizen of Algerian origin, who had told the court he was lured online during Syria's civil war5.

The National said some of those sentenced this week expressed remorse and said they had been brainwashed1. France 24, citing Reuters, said the 47 were moved under an arrangement coordinated by U.S. forces and Iraqi authorities4. The National separately reported that U.S. forces transferred thousands of suspected Islamic State detainees of many nationalities from Syria to Iraq earlier in 20265.

Islamic State held large parts of Iraq and Syria from 2014 until it lost that territory, a point Al-Monitor restated in its Tuesday account3. The National identified two of Thursday's convicted men as Charly Sun Raymond, 32, and Kamal Habib Ahmed bin Mubarak, 421. What remains unknown in the public record cited here includes a French government response to this week's verdicts and how many of the 47 cases are still pending1,5.

Sources

  1. The NationalIraqi court hands life sentences to three more French ISIS members
  2. ReutersIraqi court sentences six French men to life in prison for Islamic State membership
  3. (Reuters, via Al-Monitor)Iraqi court sentences six French men to life in prison for Islamic State membershipAlso (Reuters, via France 24), (Reuters, via Arab News), (Reuters, via Arab News)
  4. The NationalIraqi court sentences seven French ISIS members to prison

Read the original at The National ↗

How it’s being reported

2 sources