Over 40 French lawyers denounced the recent death sentences passed against French jihadists in Iraq in a column published online on Monday by public broadcaster FranceInfo.
Nine French citizens have been sentenced to death for joining the Islamic State extremist group.
They were reportedly among a group of jihadist prisoners handed over to Iraqi authorities by Kurdish-led forces in Syria who are allied to France and the United States.
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France had been “trapped’’ by its refusal to repatriate French jihadist fighters and its insistence they should be judged where they committed their crimes, the lawyers, including several prominent members of the French legal profession, wrote.
“We have taken a historic risk which, if it is realised, will leave an indelible stain on the mandate of (President) Emmanuel Macron,’’ they added.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian has said Paris is asking Baghdad not to carry out the death sentences, but he also insists the men had fair trials.
Rights groups have repeatedly criticised the conduct of terrorism trials in Iraq.
Human Rights Watch reported that two of the French citizens being tried claimed they had been tortured or coerced to confess. (NAN)