US military says controversial transfer of thousands of ISIS suspects from Syria to Iraq completed

The US military said on Friday it had finished transfer thousands of ISIS suspects from prisons and jails in Syria to facilities across the border in neighboring Iraq, completing a mission sparked by security concerns amid persistent unrest in post-war Syria that saw a massive leak from a facility at the end of January.

“Central Command (CENTCOM) completed a transfer mission following a night flight from northeast Syria to Iraq on February 12 to help ensure ISIS detainees remain safe in detention centers,” the US military command responsible for operations in the Middle East said in a statement, adding that the 23-day operation “resulted in US forces successfully transporting more than 5,700 adult male ISIS fighters from detention centers in Syria to custody Iraqi”.

“Good job to the entire Joint Force team who executed this exceptionally challenging mission on the ground and in the air with great focus, professionalism and collaboration with our regional partners,” CENTCOM Commander Adm. Brad Cooper said in the statement. “We appreciate Iraq’s leadership and recognition that the transfer of detainees is essential to regional security.”

“The successful execution of this orderly and secure transfer operation will help prevent a resurgence of ISIS in Syria,” added US Army Maj. Gen. Kevin Lambert, commander of the US-led military coalition in the region tasked with the ongoing fight against the remnants of ISIS.

It is unclear if any of the prisoners have been charged with specific crimes or even confirmed as members of ISIS. Therefore, the decision by the United States to transfer them to Iraq (which has offered to put the detainees on trial) has generated concern among human rights groups who cite a history in the country of “completely false trials.”

The concern, as Sarah Sanbar, a researcher at New York-based Human Rights Watch, expressed to News themezone, is that many of those detained could face terrorism charges in an opaque justice system that, just seven years ago, saw suspected ISIS militants, including European citizens, convicted and sentenced to death.

He said that the last time such a large number of people appeared in court in Iraq, “the system was completely overwhelmed.”

After Iraq defeated local elements of ISIS in late 2017, it put thousands of suspected members of the group on trial. According to the United Nations mission in Iraq, between January 2018 and October 2019, the Iraqi judiciary prosecuted more than 20,000 terrorism-related cases.

Iraqi officials never released details about how many people convicted in these cases were sentenced to death during that period, but Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have said that about 8,000 people remain on death row in the country, including non-Iraqi citizens.

Several media outlets, including The Wall Street Journal, reported in 2019 that seven French citizens were among hundreds of people sentenced to death.

“They were totally bogus trials,” Sanbar told News themezone earlier this month. “Confessions obtained under torture, people tortured in detention centers, trials that lasted 10 minutes without the presence of a lawyer, where they were sentenced to death, based on an anonymous informant and without corroborating evidence.”

Responding to emailed questions from News themezone, an official with the Iraqi National Center for Justice and International Judicial Collaboration rejected the allegations, saying that “the Iraqi judiciary categorically rejects torture” and noted that “obtaining confessions through coercion is a punishable offense under Iraqi law.”

“Terrorism trials in Iraq are carried out in accordance with existing laws and within a constitutional framework that guarantees the right to a fair trial, the right of the accused to a defense and the eligibility of rulings for legal appeal,” the official said, adding that all such proceedings were “overseen by specialized judges working under extraordinary circumstances imposed by the scale and nature of these crimes.”

The Iraqi judiciary announced on February 2 that it had launched investigations into more than 1,300 ISIS suspects among those who had been transferred from Syria by the United States.

Human Rights Watch’s Sanbar said Iraq’s justice system had “come a long way” since the 2019 trials as the country itself has continued to stabilize, “but that said, many of those core systemic problems still remain.”

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirmed the plan to transfer the prisoners months ago, saying they “would be in Iraq temporarily” and urging the detainees’ home countries to repatriate their nationals.

But Iraq’s top legal official, Supreme Judicial Council Chairman Judge Dr. Faiq Zidan, said in a televised speech on Jan. 23 that his country was fully prepared to handle cases of ISIS suspects, both domestic and foreign.

“While some countries refuse to receive their nationals involved in terrorist crimes, the Iraqi judiciary confirms its full willingness to try terrorists detained in camps within Syrian territory, in accordance with national laws and international obligations, ensuring fair and decisive trials, achieving justice for victims of terrorism and preserving security in Iraq and other countries,” he said.

“We don’t know who is there,” Sanbar told News themezone of the detainees, who have now been transferred to Iraq by the United States. “Part of what we would ask of the authorities in Iraq, and the coalition, is to be very clear about who they are transferring, to inform the families, to give them access to legal representation, so that, first and foremost, we know who is there.”

During a 2019 visit to a prison housing ISIS suspects in Hasaka, northeastern Syria, News themezone found mostly Iraqi and Syrian inmates, but there were also many Europeans, Asians, Turks and citizens of other Arab countries. There was also an American man, but News themezone later learned he had been repatriated.

So far, no third country has commented on the transfer of foreign citizens to Iraq or the possibility of them being tried in the country. This did not surprise Sanbar.

“We have seen these countries whose citizens left the group to join ISIS completely wash their hands of any kind of responsibility. They have been left to languish there for the last 10 years,” Sanbar said. “We hope that you will now take them home and we ask that you do so.”

The Iraqi National Center for Justice and International Judicial Collaboration told News themezone in early February that it was in communication with several countries about the matter, although it did not identify them.