French, German sentenced to life for Islamic State group membership

An Iraqi court on Monday sentenced a French man and a German woman to life in prison for belonging to the Islamic State group.

An Islamic State fighter celebrates in Mosul on June 23, 2014. REUTERS/Stringer

Frenchman Lahcen Gueboudj, 58, and a German woman whose name was given only as Nadia were sentenced separately at the Baghdad central criminal court, according to an AFP journalist. Nadia is the daughter of a German woman of Moroccan origin, who was sentenced to death in January for IS membership but the sentence was later commuted to life, which in Iraq is equivalent to 20 years.
The mother and daughter were arrested in July 2017 in Mosul, the jihadists' former de-facto capital in Iraq where the government declared victory over IS in December last year. Wearing a black abaya in court, Nadia said she travelled from Syria to Iraq "to run away from the people of IS".

The French defendant, meanwhile, refuted earlier statements in which he purportedly admitted to pledging allegiance to IS and undertaking training with the jihadists."I signed confessions in Arabic without knowing what was written," said Gueboudj, with short grey hair and stubble, wearing a brown prison uniform. "I would never have left France, if my eldest son Nabil, 25-years-old, hadn't gone to Syria," he said in French. "I wanted to convince him to return with us to France," added Gueboudj.

The Islamic State group captured a third of Iraq in 2014, but was largely defeated there and in neighbouring Syria last year. Iraq’s government declared victory over the group in December. Iraq is trying hundreds of suspected members, many of whom were arrested as the group’s strongholds crumbled throughout Iraq. This includes hundreds of foreigners. More than 300 people including around 100 foreigners have been sentenced to death for belonging to IS, while at least the same number have received life terms, Iraqi judicial sources have said.

On November 13th 2015, militants claiming to belong to the Islamic State group killed 130 people in coordinated attacks across Paris, forcing the country to enter into a state of emegrency. France officially ended its state of emergency in November of 2017, replacing it with a range of a new security laws.