In a significant development following regional military shifts, Iraq has formally announced it will prosecute Islamic State group prisoners being transferred from detention facilities in northeastern Syria. This judicial undertaking follows a US-mediated agreement that coordinates with recent Syrian army advances into territories previously controlled by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
The prisoner transfer initiative gained momentum after Syrian government forces assumed control of key detention sites including al-Hol camp, al-Shaddadi prison, and al-Aqtan facility under a ceasefire extension. Although over 100 prisoners escaped during the chaotic SDF withdrawal from al-Shaddadi, Syrian authorities report most have been recaptured.
Baghdad’s proposal to relocate detainees to Iraqi jurisdiction received approval from both Washington and Damascus, resulting in the aerial transfer of 275 prisoners to date. The Associated Press confirms 125 individuals were moved on Sunday alone, citing anonymous Iraqi security sources.
Iraq’s Supreme Judicial Council has asserted exclusive judicial authority over all transferred detainees, regardless of nationality or specific role within the terrorist organization. The council emphasized that standard legal procedures will apply uniformly, with Iraqi security forces conducting preliminary investigations before trials commence in domestic courts.
This judicial transfer has raised substantial concerns among human rights organizations. Legal action NGO Reprieve characterized the development as “extremely worrying,” citing documented patterns of summary trials and executions in Iraq. CEO Maya Foa warned that transferred prisoners face “a very real risk of being tortured into making a forced confession and executed.”
Human Rights Watch has previously documented Iraq’s sentencing of hundreds of IS suspects through “rushed and deeply flawed” trials that frequently relied on confessions obtained under torture. These concerns emerge against the backdrop of ongoing security operations against IS remnants in Iraq, despite the group’s territorial defeat in 2017.
The SDF, which played a pivotal role in IS’s territorial defeat in 2019, previously managed thousands of detainees until their withdrawal from predominantly Arab regions. The United Nations subsequently assumed management responsibilities for al-Hol camp, highlighting the complex international dimensions of post-conflict detention challenges.