ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The United States Department of Defense announced Thursday that Nasrin As’ad Ibrahim, also known as Umm Sayyaf, has been transferred to Iraqi custody and is being held by the Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) Ministry of Interior.
Umm Sayyaf, who had been held under tight security by the US for three months, was the wife of ISIS leader Abu Sayyaf, who was killed by a US Special Forces operation in Syria on May 15. Umm Sayyaf was taken prisoner during the raid on suspicions that she was an ISIS member who also assisted in the enslavement of at least one young girl.
“This transfer is consistent with [Department of Defense] policy to detain, interrogate, and, where appropriate, seek the prosecution of individuals who are captured on the battlefield,” reads the US Department of Defense report regarding Sayyaf’s transfer to Iraqi custody.
The US statement does not address why the prisoner was transferred to the KRG. It also does not specify how long Sayyaf will be in KRG custody, where she is being held, or if she will be charged with a crime.
Sayyaf is believed to be an Iraqi national, but few details are confirmed about her background.
