Iraq To Prosecute ISIS Detainees Transferred From Syria Over Prison Security Concerns
Iraq’s Supreme Judicial Council said Thursday that Iraqi courts are preparing to prosecute Islamic State (ISIS) detainees transferred from Syria, as instability in northeastern Syria raises alarm over the security of long-running detention sites there.
US forces confirmed this week that 150 ISIS prisoners were moved from Syria into Iraq and said the broader effort could eventually involve up to 7,000 detainees. For years, more than 10,000 ISIS members have been held in roughly a dozen prisons and camps overseen by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, facilities now viewed as increasingly vulnerable after recent battlefield losses.
A US official told Reuters that about 200 lower-level ISIS fighters broke out of the Al-Shaddadi prison in Syria, although Syrian government forces reportedly recaptured many of them.
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According to Iraqi officials, Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani raised the issue of transferring ISIS prisoners during a phone call Tuesday with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa. They said the relocations proceeded after Baghdad formally asked Syrian authorities to approve the move. Government spokesperson Basim Alawadi called the decision “a pre-emptive step to protect Iraq’s national security,” saying events in Syria left little room for delay.
An Iraqi military spokesperson confirmed that the first group received in Iraq included both Iraqi citizens and foreign nationals and described them as senior ISIS figures. Additional transfers, the spokesperson said, will depend on ongoing field and security evaluations.
In a statement, the Supreme Judicial Council said Iraqi courts would take “due legal measures” once the detainees are placed in specialized correctional facilities, citing constitutional and criminal law authority. “All suspects, regardless of their nationalities or positions within the terrorist organization, are subject exclusively to the authority of the Iraqi judiciary,” the statement said.
Two Iraqi legal sources said the detainees represent a range of nationalities. Iraqis constitute the largest group, alongside Arabs from other countries and European nationals, including citizens of Britain, Germany, France, Belgium, Sweden, and other European Union states. Senior detainees, particularly foreign nationals, are expected to be held at a high-security site near Baghdad airport previously used by US forces.
