Iraqi judicial authorities announced that they have begun investigating 14 Frenchmen belonging to the ISIS organization and who were in Syria where they received military training.
A special bulletin for the judiciary published Sunday reported that the Karkh Investigation Court on Terrorism investigated the suspects based on the Iraqi anti-terrorism law, noting that “among them is a French army soldier, who served in Afghanistan in 2009.”
The Court stated that the terrorists, some of whom have Arab origin, received military training and Sharia education in Syria when they joined ISIS, according to their confessions.
The announcement came a day after President Barham Salih said that terror suspects “will be tried in accordance to Iraqi law and may be sentenced to death if found guilty”, clarifying that the law allows for capital punishment.
Iraqi legal expert Ahmad al-Abadi told Asharq Al-Awsat that the law stipulates that if an act is committed inside Iraq, has repercussions inside or intended to be inside Iraq, or planned abroad, then it will be tried according to Iraqi law.
The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) recently handed about 280 ISIS terrorists, including more than 500 wanted by Iraq. Among them are foreigners who committed or planned to commit criminal acts inside Iraq.
Separately, member of the Iraq High Commission for Human Rights Ali al-Bayati asserted that the number of ISIS foreign children held in the shelters amounted to about 1,000.
The majority of these children are from Turkey and Azerbaijan, with some Arabs, Europeans and Asians.
He indicated that in order to hand over the children to their countries of origin, Iraqi authorities require having DNA testing to match their genetic information with their parents to prove their ancestry, if countries wish to receive them.
In other news, the military intelligence directorate arrested a seven-member terrorist cell in the northern Nineveh province that had infiltrated the country from Syria.
“The militants were arrested in the Rabia district, west of Mosul, with fake IDs in their possession as they just returned from Syria,” it said in a statement.
"Four of the detainees were senior members of ISIS’ so-called Jund (soldiers) Diwan," it added.
The arrest came amid a rise in ISIS terrorist attacks in various parts of Iraq. This has caused alarm among political and military authorities, two years after former Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi announced the military victory against the terror group.
ISIS activities in Iraq are currently concentrated in the areas between the Hawran Valley in the Anbar province and in southern Kirkuk.
