Syria
Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) fighters stand guard at Al Naeem Square, in Raqqa, Syria on February 7, 2022. File photo: AP
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ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Baghdad is set to receive 200 Iraqi nationals affiliated with the Islamic State (ISIS) from the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), along with three separate batches of the group’s family members.
Rudaw has learned that the handover agreement was signed on January 11 in the presence of two officers from the US-led coalition against ISIS.
Iraq’s migration and displaced ministry and the Nineveh Provincial Council both confirmed the agreement but clarified that the matter falls outside their jurisdictions.
“We are aware of such an agreement, but we have no information about whether these wanted individuals have been handed over. This issue is not under our ministry’s purview and lies with other authorities,” Ali Abbas, spokesperson for the migration and displaced ministry, told Rudaw on Monday.
Mohammed Kakayi, head of the security committee in the Nineveh Provincial Council, stated that the detainees would be repatriated directly to Baghdad and would not pass through Mosul.
“This matter falls under the authority of the Iraqi intelligence agency. The ISIS fighters are handed over directly to them,” he explained.
Thousands of individuals with suspected ISIS ties are held in SDF-controlled al-Hol and Roj camps in northeast Syria’s (Rojava) Hasaka province.
Al-Hol is the larger of the two, currently housing 34,927 ISIS-linked individuals. Of these, 15,681 are Iraqis, 15,861 are Syrians, and 6,385 are foreigners, according to data obtained by Rudaw English from Sheikhmous Ahmed, supervisor of refugee and IDP camps in northeast Syria.
The families are typically transferred to al-Jada camp south of Mosul, where they undergo rehabilitation and reintegration programs supervised by the Iraqi migration and displaced ministry.
However, the 200 detainees set to be transferred in this instance are ISIS fighters specifically requested by Baghdad due to their direct involvement in attacks against Iraqi civilians and security forces.
Since 2014, thousands of individuals have been detained across Iraq for alleged links to ISIS. Hundreds have been executed. Human rights groups have criticized the judicial process, citing forced confessions, a lack of investigation into specific crimes such as genocide, and the exclusion of victims from the proceedings.
ISIS captured vast swathes of northern and central Iraq in 2014, but the group’s so-called caliphate was dismantled in 2017 after Iraqi and Kurdish forces, with support from a US.-led international coalition, retook the territory.
Hastyar Qadir contributed to this report.
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