US forces have quietly sent at least 30 suspected foreign ISIS militants captured in Syria last year and in late 2017 to stand trial in Iraq, interviews with the men, Iraqi sources and court documents show.
Three of the men have been convicted of ISIS membership and sentenced to death by Iraqi courts, while five have been given life sentences. Four of them told Reuters they were tortured in prison, a claim Reuters was unable to verify. Iraq’s Counter-Terrorism Service (CTS) denied that detainees were transferred to their custody from Syria in 2017 and 2018, and denied the detainees’ claims of torture.
While the fate of thousands of ISIS fighters captured in Syria remains unresolved, the roughly 30 suspected foreign extremists were transferred to Iraq in 2017 and 2018 after they were captured by the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), according to Iraqi court files, US detention records, intelligence, and judicial sources as well as people familiar with the matter.