Syria, Iraq form committees to review ISIS detainee cases
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – Syria and Iraq have agreed to form joint judicial committees to review the cases of Islamic State (ISIS) detainees transferred from Syrian prisons to Iraq this year, as Damascus and Baghdad deepen judicial and security cooperation.
An Iraqi judicial delegation led by Supreme Judicial Council President Faiq Zaidan visited Syria on Aug. 13, and met with Syrian Transitional President Ahmad al-Sharaa to discuss legal and judicial coordination.
Syrian Minister of Justice Mazhar al-Wais said the two sides agreed to establish technical and expert teams to examine the files of ISIS detainees and reach mutually acceptable solutions.
Iraqi Judicial Supervisory Commission chief Laith Jabr told state media after the meeting that joint judicial committees would hold regular meetings to address the detainees’ trial files.
About 5,700 ISIS detainees were transferred from Syria to Iraq in February, according to U.S. and Iraqi officials. The detainees had been held in facilities administered by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in northeastern Syria.
The transfers followed clashes between forces of the Syrian transitional government and the SDF and concerns over the security of prisons and camps holding ISIS detainees and their families. Iraq agreed to receive the prisoners in coordination with the United States.
The SDF had been holding about 10,000 ISIS detainees, along with thousands of their relatives, in detention facilities and camps.
Iraqi courts have issued hundreds of death sentences and life terms for terrorism convictions, including against foreign ISIS members. Rights groups have raised concerns over due process and the fairness of some trials.
Syria and Iraq have also expanded cooperation in trade, energy and other sectors, including efforts to reactivate an oil pipeline linking Iraq’s Kirkuk oil fields with Syria’s Baniyas port.