Iraq sentences seven French nationals in Islamic State cases

An Iraqi court sentenced seven French nationals convicted of membership in the Islamic State group to prison on Tuesday, including six life terms and one 15-year sentence, according to Iraq’s Supreme Judicial Council. The council said the six life sentences are equivalent to 20 years under Iraqi law. The defendants were among 47 French nationals who had been held in Syria and transferred to Iraq last year for prosecution. Defense lawyers and representatives of the French Embassy attended the hearing. The Tuesday sentences were reported as the first verdicts in proceedings involving the transferred French detainees. The council described the seven as highly dangerous, saying their conduct threatened Iraq’s national security, destabilized Iraq and Syria, and involved inciting terrorist operations in other countries. One account from the courtroom said the six defendants initially faced death sentences that the judge commuted to life imprisonment, citing their youth and the prospect of rehabilitation. That account also reported that the judge addressed the defendants directly about the possibility of turning their lives around. The full judgments were not included in the reports....