Prosecuting Islamic State Foreign Fighters: Issues And Implications

Suspected Isis militants wait their turn for sentencing at the counterterrorism court in Baghdad, Iraq

The collapse of the physical caliphate of ISIS (Daesh) in Iraq and Syria has not led to the demise of Salafi-jihadi terrorism, but given rise to a set of problems relating to the management of scores of detained ISIS foreign fighters. Essentially, how should the international community deal with these foreign citizens who had travelled to the Levant to join ISIS?

While countries are reluctant to allow their citizens, who became foreign fighters to return home, these countries have expressed concerns with the way that their citizens are being prosecuted in Iraq (or a third country).

There are no clear positions and no clear solutions about the management of detained ISIS foreign fighters. For example, France reportedly said that the prosecution of French ISIS fighters in Iraq is “a sovereign matter for Iraq” but “opposed in principle to the death penalty.” Human rights groups said that the court trials in Iraq depend on “circumstantial evidence or confessions obtained under torture”, but there appear to be very few alternatives.

Issues and Implications

The bottom-line, the paths to de-radicalisation, rehabilitation and reintegration are seemingly closed to these foreign fighters. The delivery of retributive justice, however, has several issues and implications, some the writer had stated in an interview with Pakistan’s Indus News in Episode 99 (31 May 2019) of Scope:

1. Proportionality, legality and morality? Is the Iraqi court as well as the international community demonstrating that they are better than ISIS in terms of delivering justice and showing humanity? These points constitute an important consideration as counterterrorism is both a kinetic war and a war of ideas and ideals.

2. Is the international community being responsible by leaving their citizens to the justice system in conflict zones? In the first place, the world could not prevent ISIS from emerging and could not prevent their citizens from travelling to the conflict zones to join ISIS. The world had some time to prepare for the collapse of ISIS, but when ISIS collapsed, the world remains unprepared and divided about dealing with the foreign fighters and their families.

3. By stripping foreign fighters of their citizenship and leaving them in Iraq to face justice, are countries inadvertently recognising that these fighters were fighting for an enemy state and therefore recognising the caliphate as an actual albeit proto state?

4. By outsourcing the justice process to Iraq, is it politically expedient for countries in the short term but with long term ramifications to international security? The international community still needs to deal with the family members of foreign fighters who are left behind in Iraq and Syria. Will these family members usher in the next generation of jihadi terrorists, or could they be levers in counter-radicalisation and counter-propaganda efforts to weaken the ISIS brand?

5. The international community needs to pre-empt how ISIS could use the death penalties and trials in Iraq as part of their propaganda to re-invent themselves and sustain their ideology even as they move towards insurgency tactics now. For example, how would the death penalties complement the ISIS narrative of martyrdom? How would the lack of fairness in court processes complement the ISIS narrative that the caliphate must replace the existing international political order?

6. Dealing with citizens who had joined ISIS in conflict zones is a complex task. Unlike homegrown terrorists, citizens who joined ISIS had undergone more intensive psychological conditioning and indoctrination. However, not all of them travelled to the caliphate to die. Some went there to live; therefore, de-radicalisation efforts could turn some of them into credible voices for preventing violent extremism.

7. As ISIS is an international problem, the international community should not leave it to Iraq alone to solve the foreign fighter problem. Years of armed conflict may have left Iraq with insufficient capacity to deal with the enormous scale of the problem. The international community should seriously consider setting up an international war crimes tribunal to prosecute the leaders and members of ISIS in a way that is as fair as possible. The tribunal could be based in Iraq but with representatives from the various countries that participated in the fight against ISIS. This tribunal is a mission that international organisations such as INTERPOL could support in terms of operations and investigations.

Conclusion

The collapse of the physical caliphate of ISIS had caused many countries to be concerned about how returning foreign fighters could “threaten a new wave of terror”—as part of ISIS 2.0—in non-conflict zones. However, this is only one side of the coin.

The other side of the coin is how the process of retributive justice that these fighters and their families face in conflict zones—such as Iraq—could change them for the better or worse. Beyond the jails, the detention camps in Syria and Iraq could inadvertently become grooming grounds for future jihadi terrorist leaders and fighters.

Source: Eurasia Review, Op-Ed; Muhammad Faizal B Abdul Rahman, May, 2019. Muhammad Faizal B Abdul Rahman is a Research Fellow, Centre of Excellence for National Security (CENS), S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), NTU, Singapore.

⚑ | Report an error, an omission, a typo; suggest a story or a new angle to an existing story; submit a piece, a comment; recommend a resource; contact the webmaster, contact us: deathpenaltynews@gmail.com.

Opposed to Capital Punishment? Help us keep this blog up and running! DONATE!

"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted." -- Oscar Wilde

Death penalty options expanded in proposed Arizona bills

PHOENIX — Arizona lawmakers advanced proposals on Feb. 19, 2026, that would expand execution options for death row inmates to include firing squads and lethal gas, amid ongoing challenges with lethal injection and concerns over carrying out capital sentences. The measures, sponsored by Sen. Kevin Payne, R-Peoria, cleared a Senate committee with a party-line vote. They aim to give condemned inmates more choices while mandating firing squad executions for those convicted of murdering law enforcement officers. Senate Concurrent Resolution 1049 proposes a constitutional amendment that Arizona voters would decide in November. If approved, it would allow defendants sentenced to death to select from three methods: firing squad, lethal injection (intravenous administration of lethal substances) or lethal gas. Lethal injection would remain the default if no choice is made.

Japan | High court rejects retrial appeal over 1992 Fukuoka child murder

The Fukuoka High Court rejected an appeal on Monday for a retrial for the 1992 murder of two 7-year-old girls in the city of Iizuka in Fukuoka Prefecture, for which a death row convict was executed. The defense plans to file a special appeal with the Supreme Court against the decision. In what's known as the Iizuka incident, despite the assertion of his innocence, Michitoshi Kuma's death sentence became final in 2006 based on DNA test results and eyewitness accounts. He was executed at the age of 70 in 2008. The defendant's side submitted in the second round of its retrial request a woman's testimony as new evidence.

Sudanese Courts Sentence 2 Women to Death by Stoning for Adultery Despite International Obligations

Two Sudanese women have been sentenced to death by stoning in separate cases in Sudan, raising serious concerns about Sudan’s compliance with its international human rights obligations, particularly following its ratification of the United Nations Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (UNCAT).

Florida | Governor DeSantis signs death warrant in 2008 murder case

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Governor Ron DeSantis has signed a death warrant for Michael L. King, setting an execution date of March 17, 2026, at 6 p.m. King was convicted and sentenced to death for the 2008 kidnapping, sexual battery and murder of Denise Amber Lee, a 21-year-old North Port mother. On January 17, 2008, Michael Lee King abducted 21-year-old Denise Amber Lee from her North Port home by forcing her into his green Chevrolet Camaro. He drove her around while she was bound, including to his cousin's house to borrow tools like a shovel. King took her to his home, where he sexually battered her, then placed her in the backseat of his car. Later that evening, he drove to a remote area, shot her in the face, and buried her nude body in a shallow grave. Her remains were discovered two days later. During the crime, multiple 9-1-1 calls were made, but communication breakdowns between emergency dispatch centers delayed the response. The case drew national attention and prompted w...

India | POCSO Court awards death penalty to UP couple for sexual exploitation of 33 children

A special court in Uttar Pradesh’s Banda on Friday sentenced a former Junior Engineer (JE) of the Irrigation Department and his wife to death for the sexual exploitation of 33 minor boys — some as young as three — over a decade, officials said. The POCSO court termed the crimes as “rarest of rare” and held Ram Bhawan and his wife Durgawati guilty of systematically abusing children between 2010 and 2020 and producing child sexual abuse material. Convicting the duo under provisions of the Indian Penal Code and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, the court sentenced them to death for offences including aggravated penetrative sexual assault, using a child for pornographic purposes, storage of pornographic material involving children, and abetment and criminal conspiracy, they said.

Iran | Man Hanged for Murder After Plaintiff Changed Their Mind at Last Minute

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); 19 February 2026: Reza Karami, a man on death row for murder, was executed in Doroud Prison. The plaintiffs in the case had agreed to accept diya (blood money) in lieu of execution but changed their minds at the last minute. According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, a man was hanged in Doroud Prison, Lorestan province, on 14 February 2026. His identity has been established as 30-year-old Reza Karami who was arrested around three years ago and sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) for murder by the Criminal Court.

Oklahoma Ends Indefinite Death Row Solitary Confinement

Every year, thousands of prisoners in the U.S. are placed in solitary confinement, where they endure isolation, abuse, and mental suffering . This practice might soon become rarer for some inmates in Oklahoma, thanks to the efforts of activists in the state. Earlier this month, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Oklahoma announced that the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester had ended the practice of indefinite solitary confinement for "the vast majority" of death row prisoners.

Alabama provides the greatest arguments against the death penalty

I have seen three executions. I hope I never see a fourth. Capital punishment is violence. But the state does all it can to conceal that fact. The viewing areas outside the death chamber are still and silent. Bright light floods the small room where people die. The warden pronouncing the sentence speaks in clipped, measured tones, saying no more than needed. You’re expected to view the act as a bloodless execution of justice.

Louisiana Supreme Court Unanimously Sides with Two Death-Sentenced Prisoners Targeted with Premature Execution Warrants

When Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry and Attorney General Liz Murrill took office in January 2024, they moved aggressively to restart executions in the state. Gov. Landry signed bills that authorized nitrogen suffocation and electrocution as execution methods, increased his own power over the state capital defense system, and limited post-conviction appeals , while AG Murrill moved to take over capital appeal challenges from local district attorneys. In March 2025, the state conducted its first execution in 15 years.

Singapore executes 33-year-old Malaysian drug trafficker

Lingkesvaran was sentenced to death in 2018. A Malaysian man convicted of trafficking a significant quantity of heroin was executed in Singapore on Feb. 11, 2026, according to an official statement issued by the Singapore authorities. Lingkesvaran Rajendaren, 33, had been found guilty of trafficking not less than 52.77 grammes of diamorphine, also known as pure heroin. Singapore law mandates the death penalty for cases involving more than 15 grams of the drug. The authorities said the amount involved was enough to sustain the addiction of approximately 630 abusers for a week, highlighting the harm caused by large-scale drug trafficking.

Death Penalty News

Search This Blog