Between 2014 to 2019, thousands of militants from around the world joined ISIS in Syria and Iraq. According to the Autonomous Administration in North and East Syria (AANES), which governs Rojava, Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) captured more than 10,000 ISIS militants plus their families in the war to defeat the group that ended with a final battle in Baghouz, eastern Syria. The fighters are kept in detention centres while the families, including children, are kept in camps.
The US Department of State estimated that the fighters included approximately 5,000 Syrians, 3,000 Iraqis, and 2,000 from other countries. Repatriation of foreign fighters has been slow, with many governments reluctant to bring their citizens home amid security concerns and doubts they could have sufficient evidence to obtain convictions. Iraq’s foreign ministry spokesperson said last week that the government “has returned around 3,000 terrorist Iraqi fighters detained in Syria and tried most of them.”
“Since the first days following the battle of Baghouz, the Autonomous Administration called on the international community to fulfil its duties regarding finding a solution for the captured ISIS militants,” reads the AANES statement, adding that they have previously proposed initiatives to establish an international court.
“The failure to bring those militants in front of a court is against international laws and conventions,” the statement added.
In light of the international community’s failure to take responsibility for their nationals, and in order to “maintain social justice” and “fairness for the victims,” AANES said it decided to put the militants on trial in “open, fair and transparent” procedures, in accordance with local and international terrorism laws. It did not state when the trials would begin.
“But this does not mean that the [AANES] has changed its view on the necessity of the establishment of an international court, or a court of an international nature exclusive to the cases of ISIS terrorists,” the statement added.
The thousands of ISIS and their affiliates in detentions and camps are a security risk.
Last year, more than 200 ISIS fighters broke into a prison in Hasaka in an attempt to free their fellow militants. Freeing militants from detention centres is a priority for ISIS, the Pentagon said in its latest quarterly report on anti-ISIS operations.
Al-Hol camp where the families are kept has been called a ticking time bomb and a “breeding ground” for new ISIS militants, with human rights groups warning of squalid conditions at the camp.
This is not the first time the Rojava administration has announced an intention to prosecute ISIS fighters. In 2020, it said it would soon begin trials under international monitoring led by Sweden.
