US has repatriated all American ISIS detainees held by SDF in Syria
WASHINGTON, DC, USA (North Press) – On Thursday, the US Department of Justice announced in a statement that they repatriated 27 American citizens from Syria and Iraq, including ten charged with crimes related to their involvement in the Islamic State (ISIS).
“With the recent transfer of custody of four defendants, the United States has successfully repatriated all Americans held by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) against whom criminal charges have been lodged for offenses relating to their support for ISIS,” the statement added.
John C. Demers, the Assistant Attorney General for National Security, added that with these most recent repatriations, the US has now repatriated all American ISIS militants held by the SDF. “This was our moral responsibility to the American people and to the people of the countries to which these terrorists traveled,” he explained, adding that the Department of Justice has supported similar efforts by other countries through intelligence sharing, and will continue to do so.
The four most recently repatriated individuals were all repatriated in September, the last two of which were Emraan and Jihad Ali, a father and son who travelled to Syria in March 2015 to join ISIS. The pair both received training and fought with the terror group before surrendering to the SDF in the final battles in Baghouz in March 2019.
Both made their first court appearances on September 30th in the state of Florida, with Emraan facing charges of providing and attempting to provide material support to ISIS, with the younger Ali facing charges of conspiracy to provide material support to the group.
The statement also mentioned Abdelhamid al-Madioum, who made his first court appearance in the state of Minnesota on September 16 on the charges of providing material support to ISIS. In June 2015, al-Madioum, a naturalized US citizen from Morocco, left the US, allegedly arriving in Syria in July after travelling through Turkey. He was also captured by the SDF in March of 2019.
Ambassador Nathan Sales, State Department Coordinator for Counterterrorism, added that “The United States continues to lead by example by working with the Syrian Democratic Forces to repatriate American citizens accused of supporting ISIS and, where appropriate, prosecuting their alleged crimes in American courts,” calling on other nations to repatriate their citizens from Syria as well.