A Baghdad court sentenced a Frenchman to death on Wednesday for joining the ISIL terrorist group, bringing to seven the number of French terrorists on death row in Iraq.
Yassin Sakkam was among 12 French citizens transferred to Iraqi authorities in January by a US-backed force ‘fighting’ the terrorist group in Syria.
“I admit to having sworn allegiance” to ISIL, he told the court, saying he was paid $70 (62 euros) a month.
He added that he regretted his decision to join the group, and asked to be pardoned.
Sakkam, now 29, left France in late 2014 to fight for ISIL, posting online pictures of himself carrying arms and speaking to multiple media outlets about ISIL.
He became one of the most notorious terrorists in France, which has been seeking his arrest since 2016.
Kurdish authorities detained him in Syria in 2017.
His brother Karim carried out a suicide attack at the Iraqi-Jordanian border in 2015, according to the French Terrorism Analysis Centre (CAT).
Source: AFP
