Iraqi court deports French female jihadist after serving jail term
Representational photo
Baghdad (Iraqinews.com) – An Iraqi criminal court ordered on Monday deporting a French female jihadist to her country after serving a seven-year jail term.
Melina Bougedir was arrested last year in Mosul city along with her four children, three of whom have already been repatriated to France, as she stood trial for entering Iraq illegally, according to France 24.
Bougedir, who appealed veiled at the court, said that she had entered Iraq in October 2015 after spending four days in Syria, along with her husband, who was later killed in Iraq.
Last week, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said in Baghdad that suspected jihadists should be tried in the countries where they committed their “crimes”, while reiterating France’s opposition to the death penalty.
Earlier in the day, the Iraqi court sentenced a Turkish woman to death and 10 others to life in jail for belonging to IS.
In a statement, Abdul Satar Bayraqdar, the spokesperson for the High Judicial Council, said the Central Criminal Court in Baghdad “reviewed cases of a group of women who belonged to Islamic State. They were of different nationalities including Turkish and Azeri convicts.”
The court, according to Bayraqdar, “sentenced ten women to life in jail over involvement in terrorism, while a Turkish woman was sentenced to death.”