Three French nationals jailed for life in Iraq for Islamic State ties

BAGHDAD, Oct 29 - Three French nationals were sentenced to life in prison in Iraq on Thursday for belonging to Islamic State, with their lawyers and French embassy representatives present at the hearing, a court statement said.

The three were among 47 French Islamic State suspects transferred from detention facilities in northeast Syria to Iraq last year.

On Tuesday, six French nationals from the same group were sentenced to life in prison and a seventh to 15 years for belonging to the Islamist militant group.

Islamic State seized large parts of Iraq and Syria in 2014 before being driven from its self-declared caliphate by a US-led coalition and local forces in 2019. Many of its fighters were detained, but remnants of the organisation continue to operate.

The United States announced in January that it was completing the transfer of Islamic State detainees from Syria to Iraq amid concerns about the security of their detention facilities after Kurdish-led forces lost control of parts of the region. REUTERS