ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – A Kurdish member of the Iraqi parliament is investigating the whereabouts of 21 Peshmerga who were taken prisoner by ISIS. Visiting Iraqi prisons, she has found three former Peshmerga who fought against the Iraqi army in Tuz Khurmatu.
In early January, a father of a Peshmerga alleged that his son and eight others were in Iraqi custody at Muthanna airport and facing execution.
A Kurdish MP in the Iraqi parliament denied the report.
An investigation, however, has begun, Ashwaq Jaf, a Kurdish MP in Baghdad and member of the parliament’s human rights committee, told Rudaw.
They have compiled a list of the captive Peshmerga based on information provided by their families, she explained.
Jaf believes the Peshmerga have either been killed, are imprisoned in Iraq, or have been transferred to Syria by ISIS. She said she is ready to go to Syria to find them, if necessary.
She has visited the Muthana Airport Prison where she met an ISIS member who had supervised the Peshmerga when they were being held by the terror group.
“This Daesh [ISIS] said that they killed none of the Peshmerga and that he himself transported the Peshmerga prisoners to the prison in Qayyara,” Jaf reported.
She said the Iraqis considered the militant to be a reliable source because he had previously led them to two mass graves.
Monday should have been Jaf's second day of investigations, but she said she was denied permission to visit “sensitive” places.
A group of Peshmerga was captured by ISIS during the battles for Rashad and Bashir towns in Kirkuk province. They were transported to Mosul in 2016, according to the ISIS member, because of fears that there would be an offensive in Hawija.
During her investigation, Jaf has found three former Peshmerga detained by Iraqi authorities. She was told they had joined the White Flags group, formed near Tuz Khurmatu.
Jaf was unable to meet them without a permit from a judge, because they are being held in an investigation center.
She said she has also located three Syrian Kurds detained by Iraqi forces. They were taken to a prison in Baghdad following the liberation of Mosul. Iraqi forces suspect they are ISIS members.
“They are three Kurds from Rojava. Their profession is digging wells. They were detained by the security forces unfortunately after the liberation of Mosul and have been sentenced to life,” Jaf explained.
She had been notified about them through a WhatsApp message and was going to meet them, but the authorities needed more preparation time.
“The only solution for the problem of these three Kurds is appealing their sentence. They might be freed if the sentence is appealed,” Jaf posited.
A total of 63 Peshmerga have either gone missing in action or were captured by ISIS militants since 2014.
Last updated at 10:20 a.m. on February 7.
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