U.S. military says transfer of ISIS suspects from Syria to Iraq complete

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The U.S. subject said Friday that it had finished moving thousands of ISIS suspects from prisons and jails successful Syria to facilities crossed the borderline successful neighboring Iraq, completing a ngo sparked by information concerns amid lingering unrest successful post-war Syria that saw a mass-escape from 1 facility successful precocious January.

"Central Command (CENTCOM) completed a transportation ngo pursuing a nighttime formation from northeastern Syria to Iraq connected Feb. 12 to assistance guarantee ISIS detainees stay unafraid successful detention facilities," the U.S. subject bid liable for operations successful the Middle East said successful a statement, adding that the 23-day operation, "resulted successful U.S. forces successfully transporting much than 5,700 big antheral ISIS fighters from detention facilities successful Syria to Iraqi custody."

"Job good done to the full Joint Force squad who executed this exceptionally challenging ngo connected the crushed and successful the aerial with large focus, professionalism, and collaboration with our determination partners," CENTCOM commandant Adm. Brad Cooper said successful the statement. "We admit Iraq's enactment and designation that transferring the detainees is indispensable to determination security."

"The palmy execution of this orderly and unafraid transportation cognition volition assistance forestall an ISIS resurgence successful Syria," added U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Kevin Lambert, commandant of the U.S.-led subject conjugation successful the portion tasked with the ongoing combat against ISIS remnants.

It's not wide if immoderate of the prisoners person been charged with circumstantial crimes, oregon adjacent been confirmed arsenic ISIS members. So, the determination by the U.S. to determination them to Iraq — which has offered to enactment the detainees connected proceedings — has drawn interest from rights groups citing a past successful the state of "totally sham trials."

The concern, arsenic voiced to CBS News by Sarah Sanbar, a researcher with the New York-based Human Rights Watch, is that galore of the detainees could look coercion charges successful an opaque justness strategy that, conscionable 7 years ago, saw alleged ISIS militants, including European nationals, convicted and sentenced to death.

She said the past clip specified a ample fig of radical were enactment earlier courts successful Iraq, the "system was wholly overwhelmed."

After Iraq defeated section elements of ISIS astatine the extremity of 2017, it enactment thousands of suspected members of the radical connected trial. According to the United Nations ngo successful Iraq, betwixt January 2018 and October 2019, the Iraqi judiciary processed much than 20,000 terrorism-related cases.

Iraqi officials ne'er released details connected however galore radical convicted successful these cases were sentenced to decease during that period, but Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International person said around 8,000 radical stay connected decease row successful the country, including non-Iraqi citizens.

Several quality outlets, including The Wall Street Journal, reported successful 2019 that 7 French nationals were among the hundreds of radical sentenced to death.

"They were wholly sham trials," Sanbar told CBS News earlier this month. "Confessions obtained nether torture, radical being tortured successful detention centers, trials that lasted 10 minutes without a lawyer present, wherever they were sentenced to death, connected the ground of an anonymous informant and nary corroborating evidence."

Responding to questions emailed by CBS News, an authoritative with the Iraqi National Center of Justice and International Judicial Collaboration, rejected the accusations, saying the "Iraqi judiciary categorically rejects torture" and noting that "extracting confessions done coercion is simply a transgression punishable nether Iraqi law."

"Terrorism trials successful Iraq are conducted successful accordance with existent laws and wrong a law model that guarantees the close to a just trial, the defendant's close to a defense, and the eligibility of rulings for ineligible appeal," the authoritative said, adding that each specified proceedings were "overseen by specialized judges moving nether bonzer circumstances imposed by the standard and quality of these crimes."

Iraq's judiciary announced connected Feb. 2 that it had begun investigations into much than 1,300 ISIS suspects among those who had been transferred from Syria by the U.S.

Sanbar, of Human Rights Watch, said Iraq's justness strategy had "come a agelong way" since the 2019 trials, arsenic the state itself has continued to stabilize, "but that being said, a batch of those halfway systemic issues inactive persist."

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirmed the program to transportation the prisoners months ago, saying they would "be successful Iraq temporarily," and urging the detainees' location countries to repatriate their nationals.

But Iraq's apical ineligible official, the President of the Supreme Judicial Council, Judge Dr. Faiq Zidan, said successful a televised code connected Jan. 23 that his state was afloat prepared to grip the cases of ISIS suspects, overseas and domestic.

"While immoderate countries garbage to person their nationals progressive successful violent crimes, the Iraqi judiciary confirms its afloat readiness to effort terrorists detained successful camps wrong Syrian territory, successful accordance with nationalist laws and planetary obligations, ensuring just and decisive trials, achieving justness for the victims of terrorism, and preserving information successful Iraq and different countries," helium said.

"We don't cognize who is there," Sanbar told CBS News of the detainees, who person present been moved to Iraq by the U.S. "Part of what we would telephone connected authorities to bash successful Iraq, and the coalition, is to beryllium precise wide astir who they're transferring, pass the families, springiness them entree to ineligible representation, truthful that archetypal and foremost, we cognize who's adjacent there."

During a 2019 sojourn to a situation lodging ISIS suspects successful Hasaka, northeast Syria, CBS News recovered mostly Iraqi and Syrian inmates, but determination were besides galore Europeans, Asians, Turks and citizens of different Arab countries. There was besides 1 American man, but CBS News learned aboriginal that helium had been repatriated.

So far, nary 3rd state has commented connected the transportation of immoderate overseas nationals to Iraq oregon the anticipation of them being enactment connected proceedings successful the country. That came arsenic nary astonishment to Sanbar.

"We've seen these countries whose citizens near to articulation ISIS wholly washing their hands of immoderate benignant of responsibility. They've fto them languish determination for the past 10 years," said Sanbar. "We would anticipation that present they would instrumentality them home, and we telephone connected them to bash so."

The Iraqi National Center of Justice and International Judicial Collaboration told CBS News successful aboriginal February that it was successful connection with aggregate countries regarding the matter, though it did not place them.

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