Iraq sentences three Frenchmen to life in prison for ISIS involvement — The National

The Karkh Criminal Court in Baghdad sentenced three French citizens to life imprisonment for membership in the Islamic State (ISIS) group. Under Iraqi law, this sentence means 20 years in prison. The verdicts will automatically be reviewed by the Court of Cassation within 30 days.

As The National reports, the total number of French citizens convicted this week as part of these proceedings has reached 10. The hearings are part of a mass trial involving 47 Frenchmen who were transferred from northeastern Syria to Iraq in July 2025.

Previous verdicts

On Tuesday, the same court issued the first rulings in this case concerning seven Frenchmen. Six of them received life sentences, while another was sentenced to 15 years in prison. The hearings were conducted by Judge Mohammed Salman and attended by court-appointed lawyers and representatives of the French embassy.

Salman told each defendant that the available evidence was sufficient to establish guilt. According to him, the charge brought carries the death penalty, but the court decided to give the defendants an opportunity to reform and change their lives.

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Statements by those convicted

Among those convicted on Thursday was 32-year-old Charlie Sun Raymond, of Vietnamese origin, who took the name Abu Sufyan al-Faransi in ISIS. He pleaded guilty and told the court that for eight years his consciousness had been influenced by the group’s propaganda, but that he had now realized what he had done.

Raymond claimed that he had traveled to Turkey at his sister’s invitation and had not intended to go to Syria. According to his version, ISIS militants persuaded him to stay after he crossed the border. The court questioned some of these explanations, including regarding his participation in the fighting in Baghouz in 2019 and extremist materials found on his phone in France.

Another convict, 42-year-old Kamal Habib Ahmed bin Mubarak, said that the group’s propaganda had pushed him toward radicalization. He also pleaded guilty, said he had renounced ISIS, and apologized to the victims and their families.