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How Europe Is Handing Off Its ISIS Militants to Iraq

Rogue Valley

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How Europe Is Handing Off Its ISIS Militants to Iraq

France is leading the way in washing its hands of its Islamic State fighters—whether they receive justice or not.

5ae5eb522000002d00b8ffbb.jpeg

A French national, Djamila Boutoutaou, attends her trial at the Central Criminal Court in Baghdad. She was sentenced to
life in prison for belonging to the Islamic State terrorist organization.


Foreign Policy
6/15/19

The Europeans do not want ISIS detainees to return home, but the Syrian SDF does not have the sovereign power to sentence them, leaving their citizens in limbo. Transferring them to Iraq allows Europe to sidestep the issue, but it comes with a price—or, to be more precise, a fee. Sources from both the Iraqi and U.S. sides have alleged that Iraq wants to be paid for the trouble of trying foreigners. Senior Western officials reportedly have said the Iraqis want $10 billion as an upfront fee, with an additional $1 billion each year to take in detainees. Three Iraqi officials reportedly said they would charge $2 million per suspect per year. The French government has denied making any payments, according to a Reuters report this week. However the article also noted that “a French official briefing reporters after a visit by Iraq’s prime minister in May said Paris expected Baghdad to make an official request, including financially, on what it needed to handle large number of Islamist fighters.” Between 800 and 1,500 foreigners from countries including France, the United Kingdom, and Germany still remain in Syria detained by the SDF. France alone has about 450 citizens being held in Syria. “I believe this is the first wave of trials and we can anticipate other waves in the future,” he told Foreign Policy. “From what we know, the trials were very expedited and had very little time for defense. It is the opposite of our own values of justice.” French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian has portrayed the prosecutions as just, stating recently that the defendants had received “fair trials.” His statements have been condemned by lawyers and human rights organizations, but public opinion appears to be with the government.

France claims that the transfer was an agreement between the Kurdish SDF forces and the Iraqis and that it was not involved in the decision. France has officially stated that it respects Iraq’s sovereignty in this matter, but Iraq did not claim jurisdiction over these cases until recently. While Article 9 of the Iraqi Penal Code allows for the prosecution of foreign nationals who commit crimes outside of Iraq as long as those crimes affect Iraq, only a year ago senior judges’ interpretation of the law was quite different, said Belkis Wille, a senior Iraq researcher for the Middle East and North Africa division of Human Rights Watch. “Last year they were saying no,” she said. “A few weeks ago, when I was back at the court, suddenly the tone had completely changed, and it’s obviously because politically they’ve been told that they have to prosecute,” she said. The Iraqi justice system is infamous for its abuses: Trials lasting 10 minutes, torture, and forced confessions have all been widely reported. If a country pays for its nationals to be prosecuted in Iraq, it could potentially violate international law and make France complicit in torture. Regardless of payment, France did not object to the transfer of its citizens to Iraq, a nation known for widely applying the death penalty in terrorism cases. A defense lawyer who did not want to be named said flatly that torture was common in these cases. “They’ll torture them with electricity to get them to sign something in a language they don’t understand,” he said in between court sessions. Thousands of people left Europe to fight for the Islamic State, a fact that years later European countries still appear reluctant to reckon with. But as Europe debates how to dispose of the fighters, Iraqis are left with a different question. “Iraq has the right not to be used as the most violent country,” said Pascale Warda, the president of the Iraqi Hammurabi Human Rights Organization, after attending the trials. “Why shouldn’t those countries take responsibility? Why should the responsibility be on our people?”

The legal status and fate of European citizens who joined ISIS and are now detained in Syria ultimately rests with the home governments. But few are eager to face this responsibility, and a convenient off-ramp has apparently been discovered by the French. In effect, pay the Iraqis to "dispose" of the problem.

Related: A tribunal for ISIS fighters?
 
I'm sure that'll work out flawlessly.
 
How Europe Is Handing Off Its ISIS Militants to Iraq

France is leading the way in washing its hands of its Islamic State fighters—whether they receive justice or not.

5ae5eb522000002d00b8ffbb.jpeg

A French national, Djamila Boutoutaou, attends her trial at the Central Criminal Court in Baghdad. She was sentenced to
life in prison for belonging to the Islamic State terrorist organization.




The legal status and fate of European citizens who joined ISIS and are now detained in Syria ultimately rests with the home governments. But few are eager to face this responsibility, and a convenient off-ramp has apparently been discovered by the French. In effect, pay the Iraqis to "dispose" of the problem.

Related: A tribunal for ISIS fighters?

There’s a human in a cage? In Europe? I thought they were better than that.
 
Or France can simply bring back the death penalty in their sentencing and the guillotine. France will get rid of its ISIS militant citizens, and the ISIS militants will have the martyrdom they so desperately crave. Win-win.
 
Where I don't care if the perps rot in the desert forever, the whole thing is totally hypocritical on the side of European countries. Countries that, like Germany, were indignant in the past over the home countries like Tunisia stone-walling against taking its undesirable elements back.

But now reluctant to take back their own citizens, if those have been already nabbed in the M.E.

Only perps being prosecuted appearing to be those that made it "home" under their own steam.
 
In a world where wars are now fought by non-state actors, all the western governments are having their constitutions challenged. They're supposed to protect their citizens with due process, but nobody wants to take back people who betrayed their country to fight against them. It's hard for France to make a law that lets it reject its own citizens because that could have widespread repercussions for civil rights; but it wasn't want these terrorists back on its soil.

What a conundrum.
 
This strategy rests on the notion that Iraq remains a stable state and does not descend into chaos as it did between 2003 and 2015. If that stability goes then many of these militants who have not been killed will likely be freed through abandonment of jails and detention camps and then may seek vengence on the countries which abjured them or may teach a whole new generation of militants their skills.

It is better and safer in the long-run to repatriate them, prosecute them, imprison them if found guilty, preventively detain them if guilt cannot be proven but they are still judged to a real and serious threat and thus keep them from metastasising their death creed, their hate and their experience/skills to others.

Cheers.
Evilroddy.
 
This strategy rests on the notion that Iraq remains a stable state and does not descend into chaos as it did between 2003 and 2015. If that stability goes then many of these militants who have not been killed will likely be freed through abandonment of jails and detention camps and then may seek vengence on the countries which abjured them or may teach a whole new generation of militants their skills.

It is better and safer in the long-run to repatriate them, prosecute them, imprison them if found guilty, preventively detain them if guilt cannot be proven but they are still judged to a real and serious threat and thus keep them from metastasising their death creed, their hate and their experience/skills to others.

Cheers.
Evilroddy.
No state (or its justice system) in Europe can detain anybody just on the principle of that person being suspected of constituting a danger.

I enjoy most of Philip K. Dick's stuff but one needs to keep fiction and reality apart.

As to repatriating the perps in order to prosecute them at home, I'm all for it for reasons I've already stated.
 
There’s a human in a cage? In Europe? I thought they were better than that.

Please say you don't think Baghdad is in Europe.
 
No state (or its justice system) in Europe can detain anybody just on the principle of that person being suspected of constituting a danger.

I enjoy most of Philip K. Dick's stuff but one needs to keep fiction and reality apart.

As to repatriating the perps in order to prosecute them at home, I'm all for it for reasons I've already stated.

Chagos:

The U.K. used preventative detention while it was part of the EEC and the early EU. Canada, while not part of Europe does too and we're not known as a hotbed of state repression, unless you're a missing or murderd aboriginal woman or girl. Europe can adopt sensible and well monitored penal mechanisms for preventative detention for the rare cases where it will be needed.

There are no insurmountable obstacles to solve this problem, just craven politics and a desire to externalise costs and risks.

Did I mention Mr. P. K. Dick? Was I dreaming of electric sheep?

Cheers.
Evilroddy.
 
Chagos:

The U.K. used preventative detention while it was part of the EEC and the early EU. Canada, while not part of Europe does too and we're not known as a hotbed of state repression, unless you're a missing or murderd aboriginal woman or girl. Europe can adopt sensible and well monitored penal mechanisms for preventative detention for the rare cases where it will be needed.

There are no insurmountable obstacles to solve this problem,
just a general understanding that we over here don't "Guantanamize".

That said, preventive detention is indeed not handled by Brussels but is a matter for the individual state to rule upon. So you are not totally wrong.
just craven politics and a desire to externalise costs and risks.
I already pointed out the hypocrisy of letting other states deal with a third state's responsibility.
Did I mention Mr. P. K. Dick? Was I dreaming of electric sheep?
Minority report.
Cheers.
Evilroddy.
Nasdrovye
Chagos
 
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just a general understanding that we over here don't "Guantanamize".

That said, preventive detention is indeed not handled by Brussels but is a matter for the individual state to rule upon. So you are not totally wrong.I already pointed out the hypocrisy of letting other states deal with a third state's responsibility.Minority report.
Nasdrovye
Chagos

(Pssst.... Deckart is a replicant)
 
This strategy rests on the notion that Iraq remains a stable state and does not descend into chaos as it did between 2003 and 2015. If that stability goes then many of these militants who have not been killed will likely be freed through abandonment of jails and detention camps and then may seek vengence on the countries which abjured them or may teach a whole new generation of militants their skills.

It is better and safer in the long-run to repatriate them, prosecute them, imprison them if found guilty, preventively detain them if guilt cannot be proven but they are still judged to a real and serious threat and thus keep them from metastasising their death creed, their hate and their experience/skills to others.

Cheers.
Evilroddy.

Theres one very serious problem with your idea; European countries such as France have shown themselves to be grossly inept at keeping terrorists locked away long enough to prevent them from going on killing sprees. So stability is as much of a problem in Europe as it is in Iraq.
 
Theres one very serious problem with your idea; European countries such as France have shown themselves to be grossly inept at keeping terrorists locked away long enough to prevent them from going on killing sprees. So stability is as much of a problem in Europe as it is in Iraq.

Truthatallcosts:

I have checked for recidivist massacres in Europe and have found almost none. However they are far more common in America although not by Muslim extremists. So until I see proof that Islamist terrorists are being freed to kill again in Europe, I will take your offered constructive criticism with a grain of salt. Can you suggest sources or examples of freed terrorists killing again in Europe. The very few I found were related to the "Troubles" in Ireland and one case regarding a Basque terrorist in Spain. None of the cases I found involved Muslims or Middle Eastern folks.

Cheers.
Evilroddy.
 
Truthatallcosts:

I have checked for recidivist massacres in Europe and have found almost none. However they are far more common in America although not by Muslim extremists. So until I see proof that Islamist terrorists are being freed to kill again in Europe, I will take your offered constructive criticism with a grain of salt. Can you suggest sources or examples of freed terrorists killing again in Europe. The very few I found were related to the "Troubles" in Ireland and one case regarding a Basque terrorist in Spain. None of the cases I found involved Muslims or Middle Eastern folks.

Cheers.
Evilroddy.
Wait for the disingenuous argument to bounce up, that many of the Islamist terror actors in Europe had already seen jail there.

With the simple fact that they hadn't seen it on account of having previously committed acts of terror, conveniently omitted.
 
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