ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — A Peshmerga official said Monday that the Peshmerga Ministry has ordered the release of any ISIS militant who surrenders to the Peshmerga, but they will remain on parole.
“After we realized they are not involved in committing crimes we freed two ISIS militants on bail,” said Sheikh Jaffar Mustafa, a commander at the Peshmerga Ministry.
“With the help of the people of Sunni areas, ISIS was strong, but after they turned their back on them and the Peshmerga resistance against the group developed, reclaiming thousands of kilometers of Kurdish territory, ISIS lost its morale against the Peshmerga," said Mustafa.
“ISIS has lost the support of local Arabs in their controlled areas and their militants are fleeing to the Peshmerga to surrender,” he added.
Over the last few months, hundreds of ISIS militants have come to the Peshmerga front lines to surrender through mediation, and “any ISIS militant who surrenders to the Peshmerga will be treated as a captive and with respect if it is proved they are not charged with crimes,” he continued.
Militants from different parts of the world have joined the Islamic State, and an estimated 500 Kurds are fighting alongside the group’s extremists.
A member of the Kurdistan Parliament’s Peshmerga Affairs Committee told Rudaw the committee had learned ISIS militants—especially local Arabs forced to take up arms—were increasingly surrendering to Peshmerga.
“We have called on the courts to deal with the ISIS captives according to international principles and the terror law in the Kurdistan region,” said Qadir Rezgai, a member of the committee.
However, speaking to Rudaw on the phone, Jabar Yawar, chief of staff of the Ministry of Peshmerga, said he was unaware of any ISIS militants surrendering to the Peshmerga en masse.
The Kurdistan Parliament issued its anti-terror law in 2006, stating that joining any extremist organization and gangs intimidating people will be considered a terror act.
The Parliament identified the reasons for enacting such a law: "The emergence of terrorism as a dangerous international phenomenon which targets specifically the civilian population, jeopardizes the public security, causes instability in society and damages the environment as well as public and private property."
