Iraqi court jails seven French nationals over Islamic State membership

Six defendants received life sentences – equivalent to 20 years in prison under Iraqi law, according to the court ruling on Tuesday – after the judge commuted their death sentences, citing their youth and the prospect of rehabilitation.

A seventh defendant, aged 24, was sentenced to 15 years. His mother had taken him to Syria more than a decade ago when she joined the jihadist group.

The seven were among 47 French nationals transferred to Iraq in 2025 after being held in neighbouring Syria.

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Death sentences commuted

The six defendants sentenced to life imprisonment included Mehdi Sida, Anas Alaouchiche, Azeyed Abbasi and Lakhdar Sebouai, according to the French spellings of their names provided by the judge.

They were found guilty of belonging to the “terrorist group Daesh” – an Arabic acronym for Islamic State – and of having worked with members of the group to spread terror”, according to a journalist at the scene.

The court “commuted the death sentence to life imprisonment, given that you are young, in order to offer you a chance in the future ... to turn your lives around”, the judge said, addressing the defendants.

The ruling marked the first sentencing in the proceedings concerning the French nationals transferred from Syria.

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Among the wider group of 47 French nationals is Adrien Guihal, a veteran of the French jihadist movement who claimed responsibility on behalf of Islamic State for the Nice attack of 14 July 2016.

The attack in the southern French city killed 86 people. Guihal was not among those identified as receiving sentences on Tuesday.

The proceedings form part of Iraq's efforts to prosecute suspected members of Islamic State. Baghdad has tried hundreds of alleged members in recent years, including many foreign nationals.

The jihadist group committed atrocities across Iraq and neighbouring Syria after seizing vast swathes of territory in 2014. A US-led coalition and local forces dismantled its self-declared caliphate, capturing its last territorial stronghold in 2019. Many of its militants were detained, although remnants of the group continue to operate.

Tuesday's verdicts mark a new stage in the cases of the French detainees, with the court imposing lengthy prison terms while explicitly holding out the possibility of rehabilitation for the six spared the death penalty.

(with newswires)