French lawyers say they were denied access to cases of ISIS suspects in Iraq — Asharq Al-Awsat
French lawyers said that Iraqi authorities had not granted them permission to handle the cases of their clients — French citizens suspected of belonging to the Islamic State group and transferred from northeastern Syria to Iraq. According to the defense, the detainees may appear before Baghdad courts in the coming days and face the risk of death sentences.
As Asharq Al-Awsat reports, an unnamed Iraqi official said that the cases of detainees transferred from Syria are handled exclusively by the Counter Terrorism Service and Iraq’s Supreme Judicial Council. He described them as a matter of national security and noted that senior leadership is still reviewing the files, so referring the cases to court may take time.
Defense statements
In a statement, the lawyers claim that their clients were illegally transferred from northeastern Syria to Iraq. They also said they had met with some detainees in Iraq and witnessed what they described as inhuman and degrading treatment and violence.
The defense informed French authorities about alleged torture of the detainees and what it considers the arbitrary nature of the procedures. They claim they were not given access to case files and were unable to speak confidentially with their clients without Iraqi authorities’ representatives being present. According to them, court-appointed lawyers, some of whom had only ten minutes to meet with detainees, insulted the defendants in the presence of guards.
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The defense team noted that some of the detainees are young men whom their parents forcibly took to Syria when they were children. The lawyers said they applied for new permits to travel to Iraq in the summer, but the authorities rejected them at the last minute. French authorities, according to the defense, confirmed that Iraq does not recognize the right of French lawyers to represent detainees or intervene in local court proceedings.
Iraqi side’s position
Legal expert Ali al-Tamimi explained the refusal by citing provisions of Iraq’s law on advocacy and criminal jurisdiction rules. According to him, Law No. 173 of 1965 stipulates that a lawyer registered to practice in Iraq must be a citizen of the country. A foreign lawyer who is not a member of a bar association in an Arab country may appear only together with an Iraqi lawyer and with separate approval from the head of the Iraqi Bar Association and the president of the Supreme Judicial Council.
Al-Tamimi also said that Iraq considers the detainees to be involved in crimes on its territory. He cited a judicial source who claimed that all of them held senior positions in ISIS, and that some were involved in planning attacks in the Iraq-Syria region. According to him, the cases are being considered under Iraq’s Criminal Procedure Code No. 23 of 1971, which guarantees the right to defense through a lawyer licensed in Iraq.
