Baghdad completes interrogation of 5,704 ISIS fighters handed over by Syria

Baghdad – Agencies: The Iraqi Higher Judicial Council announced that the First Baghdad-Karkh Investigation Court has completed the interrogation phase in the case of 5,704 defendants from ISIS elements transferred from northeastern Syria to Iraq, and has moved to the next judicial stage, which involves referring them to courts according to the evidence and facts established in each case. In a statement, the Council said that “preliminary investigations began last February, and investigative work continued through interrogations, evidence collection, and verification, culminating in the completion of investigations with all 5,704 defendants, in preparation for resolving their cases in accordance with legal procedures.”

Verification processes revealed that “the file includes individuals from 67 nationalities, including 16 Arab nationalities, 19 from European Union countries, and 32 other foreign nationalities, while the number of Iraqis stands at 474 and Syrians at 3,497. This reflects the international nature of the file, the complexity of the facts and evidence, and the diverse trajectories of the individuals involved,” according to the statement.

The Higher Judicial Council noted that “investigations, evidence collection, and analyses have uncovered a number of highly dangerous elements who held leadership, security, legal, military, or media positions, or were linked to specific operations and crimes with an international dimension, as well as top-tier leaders within ISIS terrorist gangs.”

It pointed out that “investigations revealed multiple roles within the organization, not limited to combat activities, but encompassing military, security, financial, logistical, administrative, health, technical, and media functions.”

Furthermore, “investigations uncovered information related to serious crimes with an international dimension committed against the Yazidi community, and six defendants have been identified whose files contain roles directly linked to the abduction, detention, transfer, sale, or supervision of Yazidi women, or benefiting from the slavery system established by ISIS terrorist gangs.”