An Iraqi court on Saturday sentenced a French woman life imprisonment for membership of the Islamic State jihadist group, a source at the courthouse said. Melina Boughedir was sentenced last February to seven months in jail for illegal entry into the country and was ordered for deporting back to France, but another court ordered her re-trial under Iraq’s anti-terrorism law.
The 27-year-old was found guilty on Sunday of belonging to IS. “I am innocent,” Boughedir told the judge in French. “My husband forged me and then threatened to leave with the children” unless she followed him to Iraq, where he planned on joining IS, she said.
On Thursday, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian told that Boughedir was a “Daesh (IS) terrorist who fought against Iraq” and said she should be tried in Iraq. This prompted her French lawyers to send a letter of protest to Le Drian, seen by AFP, in which they denounced “unacceptable pressure on the Iraqi judicial system” and “interference”.On Saturday, one of her lawyers, who travelled to Baghdad for the trial, William Bourdon, told Boughedir’s family and her defence team want her to return to France and face a court there.
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Boughedir was detained in the summer of 2017 in Mosul, the capital of IS’s self-declared “caliphate”. Her husband is believed to have been killed during a vast operation by US-led coalition-backed Iraqi forces to seize the country’s second city back from jihadist control. Dozens of French citizens suspected of having inclined in IS ranks are believed to be in detention in Iraq and neighbouring Syria, including several minors.
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