In December 2023, an investigation was opened into torture, inhuman and degrading punishments and treatment, and arbitrary detention in relation to two French jihadists detained in Iraq, Agence France-Presse (AFP) announced on Sunday, October 20.
These unprecedented investigations are being led by an investigating judge from the crimes against humanity section of the Paris court, the National Anti-Terrorist Prosecutor’s Office (PNAT) confirmed to AFP.
“We cannot allow the French to waste away in prisons, regardless of the seriousness of the acts they are accused of”explained Richard Sédillot, lawyer for the two plaintiffs, Brahim Nejara and Vianney Ouraghi. “I do not ask a priori for their exoneration, but it is essential that they can be tried under fair conditions, not in five minutes, without a lawyer. “We need an investigation and a trial in France.”he insisted, requested by AFP.
The complaint, filed with the constitution of a civil party in September 2020, took a long time to conclude. The courts initially decided not to investigate, but the lawyer appealed and obtained the initiation of investigations. A decision that gives hope to four other jihadists who also filed a complaint.
Dehydration, humiliation, illnesses.
Four lawyers went to Al-Rusafa prison in the fall of 2023 and in February 2024. From their non-confidential exchanges with their clients they extracted two alarming memos, transmitted to the French justice system and which included the world Then the AFP took notice.
The prisoners live in “dungeons” crowded with more than one hundred and twenty men, with only one shower and two bathrooms, where “The body dehydrates very quickly” in a “stifling heat”. they only have“a one and a half liter bottle a day to drink, ensure hygiene and wash the dishes”.
“In the morning, if the occupants of one of the dungeons do not wake up, all the inmates are punished. » The cell leader can “insult, humiliate, attack fellow prisoners with total impunity”. Only authorized outing: walk, twice a week, “ten minutes to thirty minutes (…) in a courtyard so narrow that it is almost impossible to walk”.
Inmates, even those who are seriously ill, do not receive treatment. Leonard López, known as “Abou Ibrahim Al-Andaloussi”, suffers like this “significant dystrophy”. He can no longer “raise your arms and therefore defend yourself” violence by other inmates or guards. “I’m afraid that someone will end up succumbing, I’m afraid that my client will have a stroke.”summarizes Marie Dosé, who defends a jihadist.
Collaboration of Iraqi justice
After the fall of the Islamic State (IS), eleven jihadists were sentenced to death by hanging in June 2019 in Iraq. On May 30, 2023, Iraqi courts commuted this sentence to life imprisonment. This change is the result of exchanges between magistrates from the two countries, explained a judicial source, with the Iraqis “I really want to collaborate” with French justice, which is still investigating these men. In fact, the eleven are the subject of arrest warrants for criminal terrorist association, according to the PNAT.
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“All held senior positions within IS, and some were involved in planned attacks in France before their departure and then during their stay in the Iraqi-Syrian zone.”the judicial source specified. Three other Frenchmen detained in Iraq, including two women, are also the subject of anti-terrorism investigations, according to the Ministry of Justice.
To continue with these investigations, the judges looked for a way “listen to suspects without undermining their rights” AND “interceded with the Iraqis to accept the arrival of lawyers”underlines the judicial source.
The judges proposed interrogations under the condition of assisted witness, something that several detainees strongly rejected through their lawyers. “Going to listen to them knowing full well the conditions under which they are detained is condoning their conditions of detention. How can we interrogate a litigant knowing that he was exposed to inhuman and degrading treatment and then return to Paris as if nothing had happened? »M was outraged.me Dosé, who defends a jihadist.
Interrogations in Iraq
Some suspects, however, accepted and an interrogation was already carried out in December 2023. Fodil Tahar Aouidate, known as “Abou Mariam”, a Roubaisien who left for Syria in 2014 like twenty-two other members of his family, was interrogated by two days, by a French magistrate, in the presence of an Iraqi magistrate and an investigator, as well as his lawyer. The latter, Charles Sabbe, did not comment, citing the secrecy of the instruction.
Matthieu Bagard, who is defending three other men, denounced a “misuse of the procedure” : French justice proceeds to “interrogations that are unsustainable for the rights of the defense, which weaken the procedures” instead of waiting for the execution of the arrest warrant and transfer to France for interrogation. “The transfer is the rule and the problem is precisely that the French authorities deviate from it, without justification”added Chirine Heydari-Malayeri, who is defending one of the men.
Two representatives of associations of victims of the attacks, Georges Salines and Arthur Dénouveaux, also declared to AFP that they wanted the repatriation of these jihadists, for a time. “greater transparency” research.
Questioned several times about this question of return, neither the Ministry of Foreign Affairs nor the Ministry of Justice responded to AFP.
In Iraq, a Justice Ministry official told AFP that his country “I had not received any official request from the French authorities”. A senior security official assured that the Iraqi government intended to repatriate “through official channels” more than “500 women” convicted and detained in Iraq: these are citizens of several countries, in particular Türkiye, Syria and Tajikistan. “The fate of men has not yet been determined.”added the manager.
