(Bloomberg) -- The French government stopped short of protesting after Iraq sentenced three French members of Islamic State to death.
“The terrorists of Daesh must answer to justice,” the French Foreign Ministry said in a statement, using the preferred French term for Islamic State. “France respects the sovereignty of the Iraqi authorities.”
France has largely refused to take back its citizens who joined Islamic State and were later taken prisoner by Syrian Kurd or Iraqi forces as the self-proclaimed caliphate collapsed, preferring they be judged where they were captured. It has made an exception for children and some women.
The statement said France is opposed to the death penalty “on principle” and “the necessary steps have been taken to remind the Iraqi authorities of this principle.”
The Foreign Ministry issued a much stronger statement May 20 after a 35-year-old Frenchman was condemned to death in Indonesia for drug dealing. It said it was “worried” about the sentence and would press Indonesia to commute it.
To contact the reporter on this story: Gregory Viscusi in Paris at gviscusi@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Ben Sills at bsills@bloomberg.net, Gregory L. White, Tony Halpin
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