Iraq will try foreign suspects for a price
BAGHDAD: Iraq has offered to put on trial hundreds of accused foreign militants in Baghdad in exchange for millions of dollars, potentially solving a legal conundrum for Western governments but sparking rights concerns.
Iraq has submited a proposal to the Us-led coalition that fought the militants, offering to try and sentence foreign Daesh suspects in exchange for operational costs, three Iraqi officials said.
“These countries have a problem, here’s a solution,” one said, speaking anonymously because he was not authorised to give details to the press.
The source said Iraq had proposed a rate of $2 million per suspect per year, a calculation based on the estimated per-capital detention costs in the Us-run Guantanamo Bay prison.
“We made the proposal last week but have not goten a response yet,” the source added.
A second official said Iraq had requested $2 billion to try the suspects as “one of several options”, and could ask for “more money to cover the costs of their detention.”
Iraq has already tried several hundred Daesh foreign militants and handed down death sentences to around 100, none of which has been carried out.
Other Daesh suspects have been condemned to life in Iraqi prison, including 58-year-old Frenchman Lahcen Ammar Gueboudj and two other French nationals.
At least 12 French nationals are in Iraqi custody awaiting trial ater being transferred from Syria in February.
Detainees from as many as 52 countries could be tried by Baghdad under the arrangement, a third Iraqi official said.
“Iraq proposed to the coalition seting up a special tribunal to try foreigners. There’s been a constructive beginning to those discussions,” the source said.
But establishing the court could be complicated, the official said, with questions over whether international funding for it would preclude implementation of death sentences.
The source added that Iraq proposed the arrangement to the Us-led coalition as a whole because it was simpler than negotiating with individual countries.
The Us-led coalition did not immediately respond to AFP’S request for comment.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) has warned that transferring suspects to iraq could be“problematic .”