Iraq completes investigations, to hand over 457 Syrian detainees

In a statement published by Iraq’s Supreme Judicial Council, the council announced the completion of investigations into the cases of detainees from ISIS ranks held in Iraq, as well as those recently transferred there, who come from 67 nationalities, including Syrians, Iraqis and other foreign nationals.

The Supreme Judicial Council’s Media Center said in the statement that the First Karkh Investigative Court had completed investigations into suspects accused of joining ISIS, whose interrogation began in February 2026, by gathering evidence and verifying information and facts in preparation for resolving the cases in accordance with legal procedures.

The statement said the verification process showed that those covered by the cases hold 16 Arab nationalities, 19 nationalities from European Union countries and 32 other foreign nationalities.

The council noted that in some cases, the investigations found insufficient evidence to establish the charges, resulting in the release of a Finnish detainee and his handover to Finnish authorities, as well as an American detainee who was handed over to U.S. authorities, in addition to releasing seven Iraqi detainees.

Regarding the Syrian detainees, the Supreme Judicial Council announced that the necessary procedures had been completed to release 457 Syrians. It said coordination was underway with the Syrian Embassy in Baghdad through the diplomatic channels of the Iraqi Foreign Ministry to arrange their handover to Syria after the judicial and legal requirements for each case are completed.

The announcement comes as part of the Iraqi authorities’ efforts to address the judicial and legal cases involving detainees of various nationalities and complete the procedures for each case through established legal and diplomatic channels.