Shafaq News– Baghdad/ Washington
The pace of moving ISIS detainees from Syria into Iraq has eased in recent days after Baghdad asked Washington to slow the process, warning that courts and prisons could be overstretched while talks continue over returning foreign nationals to their home countries.
Iraqi judicial and security officials, along with diplomats from states whose citizens are among the detainees, told Reuters that the US military began the transfers on January 21, shortly after the rapid collapse of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in northeast Syria raised concerns over the safety of detention facilities holding thousands of militants.
Washington initially planned to move as many as 7,000 detainees within days. More than a week later, fewer than 500 have been transferred, according to Iraqi officials and diplomats cited by Reuters. An Iraqi Foreign Ministry official said those moved so far include about 130 Iraqis and roughly 400 foreigners.
Baghdad asked for a slowdown to gain time to negotiate with foreign governments on repatriating their nationals and to prepare additional detention facilities, the officials said. Several governments remain reluctant to take back their citizens because of political and legal fallout at home, a Western diplomat told Reuters.
Iraqi officials warned that accepting the full number could overwhelm the judicial system and prisons, particularly as many foreign fighters could face the death penalty under Iraqi law. “Western countries object to capital punishment but refuse to receive their terrorists,” one senior Iraqi judicial source said. “Why should Iraq carry that burden?”
Iraq agreed to receive detainees after a brief escape by dozens of ISIS prisoners from a facility in Syria heightened fears of further breakouts, Reuters reported. Even so, officials said Baghdad is pressing other countries to assume responsibility for their nationals.
Foreign Ministry Undersecretary for Political Planning Hisham al-Alawi said Iraq has long urged foreign states to take back their citizens and try them under their own laws, noting that only a limited number have responded.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said after the transfers began that foreign ISIS detainees would be held in Iraq temporarily, reiterating Washington’s call on countries to repatriate their nationals. Legal and security experts quoted by Reuters warned that large-scale transfers risk prolonging indefinite detention and exposing detainees to flawed trials, arguing that repatriation by countries with functioning justice systems remains the only viable long-term solution.
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