The Karah Criminal Court in Baghdad on Tuesday sentenced six French citizens to life imprisonment and another defendant to 15 years in prison for being members of the ISIS organization. Life imprisonment in Iraqi law is equivalent to 20 years in prison. Muhammad Salman, the judge of the case, addressed the defendants and said that the court found the evidence sufficient to convict each of them. He added that this charge was punishable by death, but the court gave him a chance to amend due to the young age of the accused. All seven defendants are of French and Algerian origin. Mehdi Mohammed, 33, the only defendant whose name has been released, admitted to being a member of ISIS but said he was recruited and misled online during the Syrian civil war. The seventh defendant, who was imprisoned for 15 years, is 23 years old. This is the first verdict among the 47 French citizens who were transferred from Syria to Iraq. The transfers were part of a broader arrangement coordinated by US forces and Iraqi officials. In February and March of last year, the US military transferred 5,704 detainees suspected of being members of ISIS to Iraq. Iraq's Supreme Judicial Council announced that these people were from 67 nationalities, and 474 Iraqis and 3,497 Syrians were among them.

The Karah Criminal Court in Baghdad on Tuesday sentenced six French citizens to life imprisonment and another defendant to 15 years in prison for being members of the ISIS organization. Life imprisonment in Iraqi law is equivalent to 20 years in prison. Muhammad Salman, the judge of the case, addressed the defendants and said that the court found the evidence sufficient to convict each of them. He added that this charge was punishable by death, but the court gave him a chance to amend due to the young age of the accused. All seven defendants are of French and Algerian origin. Mehdi Mohammed, 33, the only defendant whose name has been released, admitted to being a member of ISIS but said he was recruited and misled online during the Syrian civil war. The seventh defendant, who was imprisoned for 15 years, is 23 years old. This is the first verdict among the 47 French citizens who were transferred from Syria to Iraq. The transfers were part of a broader arrangement coordinated by US forces and Iraqi officials. In February and March of last year, the US military transferred 5,704 detainees suspected of being members of ISIS to Iraq. Iraq's Supreme Judicial Council announced that these people were from 67 nationalities, and 474 Iraqis and 3,497 Syrians were among them.