Shafaq News– Baghdad
Iraq has received about 300 detainees linked to ISIS who were transferred from prisons in Syria to Iraqi custody, a government source said on Tuesday.
The source told Shafaq News that the Iraqi Ministry of Justice took custody of the detainees several days ago after they were moved from Syria, and they will be distributed among Iraqi prisons designated for terrorism-related convictions. “These facilities are subject to heightened security measures and are located in secure and stable areas.”
Detainees implicated in terrorist crimes will be tried under Iraq’s Anti-Terrorism Law, including Article 4, regardless of nationality. Non-Iraqi detainees will have their governments formally notified to arrange their transfer to their home countries, with commitments to enforce their sentences there.
The source also said that Iraq’s prison system currently holds around 60,000 inmates across all Ministry of Justice facilities nationwide, including more than 22,000 prisoners convicted in terrorism-related cases. Most of those convicted are Iraqi nationals, alongside a smaller number of foreign detainees.
The number of transferred ISIS detainees is expected to continue rising, as coordination between Baghdad and Damascus on the process remains ongoing. According to CENTCOM, up to 7,000 ISIS detainees will be transferred to “secure” facilities under Iraqi control.
Earlier, another source told Shafaq News that the transfer process includes detainees classified as “first-line” members of extremist organizations, including senior figures from ISIS as well as individuals linked to al-Qaeda, with several case files dating back to as early as 2005. Some of the terrorists hold European citizenship, alongside Asian, Arab, and Iraqi nationals.