French ISIS elements appeal to UN to avoid death penalty

Shafaq News / The United Nations Committee against Torture has asked France to "take all possible measures" to "prevent" the execution sentences imposed on five French jihadists in Iraq.

In the letter that was sent Friday to lawyer Nabil Boudi, the committee said that " it requests the concerned state to take every useful and reasonable measure within its powers to protect the physical and psychological peace of the convicted and to prevent the execution of death sentences."

The committee added that France "should continue to inform it without delay of every action taken in this regard."

This request falls within the framework of "temporary measures" that the committee may propose to any country pending a study of the content of the case. France has an eight-month deadline to provide "clarifications or notes" on the content of the file.

Nabil Boudi had informed the committee on February 4 of the status of Brahim Nejara, Bilel Kabaoui, Leonard Lopez, Fodil Tahar Aouidate and Mourad Delhomme. who were sentenced to death in June.

Their attorneys demanded Geneva-based committee at the time "to take temporary protection measures regarding the urgency of the situation, with the aim of avoiding irreparable harm to the petitioners, who are victims of the lack of protection on the part of the French authorities." He also requested the condemnation of France for refusing to send them back and prosecute them.

lawyer Nabil Boudi told AFP on Friday that these convicts "receive inhuman and degrading treatment in Iraqi prisons," stressing that "France knows this situation and does not move to end it."

11 French nationals arrested in Syria were sentenced to death in Iraq in 2019, while three others, including two women, were sentenced to life imprisonment for belonging to the Islamic State group.