French President Emmanuel Macron's government has said
France respects Iraqi sovereignty, but opposes the death penalty.
BAGHDAD: An Iraqi
court sentenced two French men to death on Sunday after finding them guilty of
being members of ISIS, a prosecutor told Reuters.
Iraq is conducting trials of thousands of suspected ISIS
fighters, including hundreds of foreigners, with many arrested as the group's
strongholds crumbled.
French President Emmanuel Macron's government has said
France respects Iraqi sovereignty, but opposes the death penalty.
Sunday's sentences bring the number of French citizens
facing the death penalty in Iraq to nine, the prosecutor said, adding that
another three are due to stand trial on Monday.
"There was sufficient evidence to hand down a death
sentence. They both were fighters of the terrorist ISIS organisation," the
prosecutor said of the convictions, which can be appealed.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said on Tuesday
that France was intensifying diplomatic efforts to prevent four of its citizens
being executed in Iraq after they were sentenced to death for belonging to
ISIS.
All the nine French men convicted so far were extradited to
Iraq in February and military sources at the time said that 14 French citizens
were among 280 Iraqi and foreign detainees handed over by the US-backed Syrian
Democratic Forces (SDF).
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