On Tuesday, French Justice Minister Nicole Belloubet said that Paris would intervene if the country’s nationals were sentenced to death in Iraq and Syria.
“The French state really placed itself in an awkward situation because the crimes committed in another country can obviously be heard by courts of this country if it has a system of justice in line with the national legislation, which, undoubtedly, exists in Iraq … The situation in Syria and particularly in Kurdistan differs as the system of justice is just being formed there and sometimes is not in line with the international law,” Bapt said.
“Should France ask them [Iraq and Syria] not to carry out death sentences? But that would mean that we must be ready to their [criminals’] extradition in order to imprison them here, in France … From my point of view, that is difficult … To judge them here? But which evidence will be used? That is extremely difficult. To take them into custody is one more problem,” Bapt added.
Europe has been a significant source of foreign fighters, who traveled to the Middle East to join the Daesh and other terror groups. The Soufan Group think tank estimates that some 6,000 people left Europe — mainly France, Germany and the United Kingdom — to wage war on the side of terrorists in Syria and Iraq.
