Iraq sentences two Europeans to life

BAGHDAD: An Iraqi court on Monday sentenced a French man and a German woman to life in prison in the latest punishments handed down for belonging to the Islamic State Jihadist group.

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. An Iraqi man was sentenced to death by the court for IS membership.

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.

Nadia’s mother, a German woman of Moroccan origin, 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".