Shafaq News- Baghdad

The Baghdad/Karkh criminal court has postponed the trial of seven French citizens accused of belonging to ISIS until November 23, after they were unable to meet their lawyers, an informed source told Shafaq News on Wednesday.

The court appointed lawyers for the defendants to guarantee their right to a defense, the source said. During the session, attended by a representative of the French Embassy in Baghdad and retained lawyers, the court reviewed statements and admissions previously attributed to the defendants.

One of the defendants is a doctor who worked in hospitals in Raqqa and other areas under ISIS control, and some face arrest warrants issued by French authorities and Interpol, according to the source.

The seven are among 47 French nationals detained by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in northeastern Syria and handed over to Iraq in 2025.

In October, the same court sentenced six French nationals to life imprisonment and a seventh to 15 years. It subsequently handed life sentences to three more.

In October, the same court sentenced ten other French citizens for ISIS membership.