Iraqi national arrested in Germany for ISIS suspicion

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Germany’s Federal Public Prosecutor General on Tuesday said that police had arrested an Iraqi national on suspicion of membership in the Islamic State (ISIS). 

"Based on an arrest warrant issued by the investigating judge of the Federal Court of Justice on October 20, 2025, the Federal Prosecutor's Office today had the Iraqi national Salim A. arrested in Augsburg by officers of the Federal Criminal Police Office," the public prosecutor said in a statement. 

"The accused is strongly suspected of having participated as a young adult as a member of a terrorist organization abroad," it added. 

ISIS rose to power and seized swathes of Iraqi and Syrian land in 2014, declaring a so-called caliphate. The group was declared territorially defeated in Syria in 2019, two years after its defeat in Iraq. Despite its military defeat, it continues to pose security risks, particularly in the vast eastern deserts of Syria.

A large number of people from many countries, including European nations, joined the group before its defeat. Thousands of ISIS families - including foreign nationals - remain held by Kurdish forces in northeast Syria (Rojava), along with thousands of ISIS fighters detained in prisons.

Salim joined ISIS in April 2016, fighting in a unit of the organization in Syria's Raqqa city, according to the prosecutor's office. 

"The accused was brought before the investigating judge of the Federal Court of Justice today, who informed him of the arrest warrant and ordered his detention pending trial," it noted.