France, Iraq to mull framework for jihadist trials

French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said Wednesday he would discuss a judicial framework for putting jihadists on trial during a visit to Iraq, as calls grow for an international court to judge extremists.

"We need to work things out with the Iraqi authorities so that we can find a way to have a judicial mechanism that is able to judge all these fighters, including obviously the French fighters," he told BFM-TV.

Prime Minister Edouard Philippe later said Le Drian would head to Iraq "as soon as tonight" to work on potential means for trying detained insurgents.

"A certain number of those held in Syria by the Kurds committed crimes in Iraq, which means that they can be held accountable there," he said.

Seven European countries -- France, Britain, Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden and Denmark -- have been discussing in recent months the creation of an international court in Iraq for putting foreign Islamic State (IS) jihadists on trial.

Officials from all seven countries ..