Middle East

France approves of trials in Iraq for French IS fighters

Associated Press
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FILE - in this Thursday, April 26, 2018 file photo, the defendant's cage is in the center of an empty courtroom at Nineveh Criminal Court, one of two counterterrorism courts in Iraq where suspected Islamic State militants and their associates are tried, in Tel Keif, Iraq. A Baghdad court sentenced to death three French citizens Sunday for being members of the Islamic State group, an Iraqi judicial official said. The official said the three were among 12 French citizens handed over to Iraq in January by the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces. Then SDF has handed over to Iraq hundreds of suspected IS members in recent months. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo, File)

FILE - in this May 23, 2018 file photo, suspected Islamic State militants wait their turn for sentencing at the counterterrorism court in Baghdad, Iraq. A Baghdad court sentenced to death three French citizens Sunday for being members of the Islamic State group, an Iraqi judicial official said. The official said the three were among 12 French citizens handed over to Iraq in January by the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces. Then SDF has handed over to Iraq hundreds of suspected IS members in recent months. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo, File)

France's foreign affairs ministry says the Iraqi court that sentenced three French citizens to death for being members of the Islamic State group has jurisdiction to rule in the case.

The ministry spokeswoman, Agnès von der Mühll, said on Monday that IS "terrorists must answer for their crimes in court."

The three were the first French IS members to receive death sentences in Iraq, where they were transferred for trial from neighboring Syria.

Von der Mühll says France's position is that adults detained in Iraq must be tried by the Iraqi justice system, as soon as it declares itself competent.

She added that "France respects the sovereignty of Iraqi authorities" though she expressed her country's opposition to the death penalty, "in principle, at all times and in all places."