Iraq links 6 ISIS suspects transferred from Syria to Yazidi enslavement
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – Iraq’s judiciary on Tuesday said it completed the interrogation of 5,704 Islamic State (ISIS) suspects transferred from northeast Syria, including six who were directly involved in forcing Yazidis into slavery.
The Supreme Judicial Council said the suspects will now be referred to trial following the completion of investigations. The inquiry also identified several ISIS commanders, including senior figures, who were allegedly involved in crimes at the international level.
Six suspects were found to have been directly involved in enslaving Yazidis, who suffered widespread killings, abductions and sexual violence during ISIS’s campaign in Iraq and Syria.
The United States completed the transfer of the detainees to Iraq in February after they had been held for years in detention facilities in northeast Syria overseen by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
The suspects come from 67 countries and include around 3,497 Syrians and 474 Iraqis, with the remainder being foreign nationals from European and Arab countries.
Iraq’s judiciary said 457 Syrians will be released and handed over to Syria after investigations found no evidence warranting legal action against them.
ISIS swept across Iraq and Syria in 2014, carrying out mass killings and abducting thousands of Yazidis, particularly in Iraq’s Sinjar region. Women and girls were subjected to sexual slavery, while many men and boys were killed or forcibly disappeared.
Iraq declared victory over ISIS in 2017 with the support of the U.S.-led Global Coalition, while the Kurdish-led SDF defeated the group’s territorial presence in Syria in 2019.
The large-scale trials of ISIS suspects in Iraq are expected to address crimes committed during the group’s rule, including atrocities against the Yazidi community.