BAGHDAD — An Iraqi court on Tuesday sentenced two high-profile French members of the Islamic State to death, including one featured in a propaganda video praising the 2015 Paris attacks, bringing the total number of French former jihadis condemned to death this week to six.
France said it would do all it can to spare the group from execution in Iraq. Although it has made no effort to take back the captured fighters, France is outspoken against the death penalty globally.
The sentencings in Iraq come amid controversy about the legal treatment of thousands of foreign fighters who joined the Islamic State at the height of its power in Syria and Iraq when the militant group declared its self-styled caliphate.
Human-rights groups are concerned they are being rushed through Iraqi counter-terrorism courts in trials that raise questions over whether justice is being done. Convictions are often based on confessions that defendants and rights groups say are extracted by intimidation, torture and abuse and without due process.
Although Europeans in the Islamic State have been sentenced to death, none have actually been executed in Iraq.
The men sentenced to death Tuesday were identified as Karam Salam Mohammed El-Harchaoui and Brahim Ali Mansour Nejara.
They are among a group of 12 French citizens who were detained by the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces in Syria and handed over to neighboring Iraq in January.
The Kurdish-led group spearheaded the fight against the Islamic State in Syria and has handed over to Iraq hundreds of suspected Islamic State members in recent months.
Three other French citizens fighting with the Islamic State had already been sentenced to death on Sunday, and a fourth was sentenced Monday.
Those convicted can appeal their sentences within a month. Nabil Boudi, lawyer for Leonardo Lopez, who was sentenced to death earlier this week, told France Info radio that lawyers for the French citizens were waiting for the end of all the trials before appealing.
Human-rights groups have criticized Iraq’s handling of the trials, accusing authorities of relying on circumstantial evidence and often extracting confessions under torture.