PARIS: European nations rarely miss a chance to slam the use of the death penalty by others, but they have largely turned a deaf ear to pleas from citizens Facing execution in Iraq for fighting with the Islamic State group.
Several hundred foreigners, both men and women, are thought to have been detained in Iraq since the counter-offensive that dislodged IS militants from the country?s urban centres last year. Diplomatic efforts to secure their return to Europe for trial have been half-hearted at best, with few politicians eager to be seen defending people who joined the terror group behind the deaths of dozens on home soil in recent years.More often they reiterate that Iraq has the sovereign right to try and punish people found guilty of killing its own citizens in an effort to create a modern ?self rule?. The fate of European captives in Syria is even more complicated, since they have often been seized by Kurds who do not have a formally recognised state of their own. Lawyers for French fighters in Syria, for example, have claimed they are being held ?arbitrarily? by non-state authorities ? an argument that has failed to sway official stances so far. Faced with overwhelmingly hostile public opinion, humanitarian appeals have also made little traction, even when captives are being held with young children born after they left for Iraq and Syria.
01-25-2018, 10:10 PM
Facing death in Iraq, European citizens won?t get help from home
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