Iraq completes investigation into 5,704 suspects linked to ISIS
Iraq has completed the questioning phase of 5,704 people who were previously transferred from northeastern Syria and are suspected of links to the Islamic State group (ISIS). Iraq’s Supreme Judicial Council said the cases had been referred to court, The Jerusalem Post reports.
Transfer of detainees from Syria
Most of the detainees are men who had been held since 2019 in around two dozen detention facilities in eastern Syria. They were held by the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces. Following an agreement on the integration of the SDF into the Syrian government, U.S. Central Command facilitated the large-scale transfer of detainees to Iraq.
It has not yet been specified how many people will be tried in Iraq or kept in custody. According to Al-Arabiya, citing an AFP report, more than 450 Syrian citizens are to be released and handed over to the Syrian side.
Cases involving group commanders
According to Iraq’s Supreme Judicial Council, the investigation identified several ISIS commanders, including high-ranking individuals linked to crimes of an international nature. At least six suspects, according to the council, were involved in the genocide of the Yazidi minority in Iraq.
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In 2014, ISIS seized areas inhabited by Yazidis in Sinjar. The group systematically killed members of this community, and also abducted thousands of women and children and sold them into slavery.
After ISIS was largely defeated in Syria in 2019, an estimated 50,000 to 80,000 members of the group ended up in the custody of the Syrian Democratic Forces. They were mainly women and children, although the detainees also included several thousand men. The people held in Syrian camps and detention facilities came from around 60 countries.
Iraq’s Ministry of Migration also reported that more than 20,000 Iraqi citizens had undergone rehabilitation after returning from Syria’s Al-Hol camp. According to the government, Iraqi detainees were transferred to the state-run Al-Jadaa Rehabilitation and Integration Center south of Mosul.
