Six French nationals accused of terrorism are appearing before an Iraqi court starting this Sunday, September 20. Having gone to Syria to fight jihad against Bashar al-Assad nearly a decade ago, they are being prosecuted for their membership in the Islamic State. Kurdish allies arrested and imprisoned them in northeastern Syria between 2018 and 2019, at the time of the fall of the ISIS caliphate.
Adrien Guihal among the accused
Among the defendants is Adrien Guihal, who claimed responsibility on behalf of ISIS for the Nice attack of July 14, 2016. That attack killed 86 people. The trial is taking place while, in France , the Assize Court has been hearing the appeal trial for the Trèbes and Carcassonne attacks since September 14.
This trial in Iraq poses a major security challenge for French authorities. The defendants had been detained for several years by Syrian Kurdish forces, who had repeatedly called on Western countries to repatriate their citizens involved with jihadist groups.
