Peshmerga fighters held captive by IS face terror charges in Baghdad

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan 24) – The Kurdistan Region’s Peshmerga fighters who have been held captive by the Islamic State (IS) in the past years are now facing charges by Iraqi authorities, a Kurdish official told Kurdistan 24 on Tuesday.

According to the figures by the Kurdistan Region’s Ministry of Peshmerga, 96 Peshmerga fighters have been captured by IS since 2014, where only 38 of them are believed to be alive.

Sheikh Irfan Barzinji, the representative for Missing Peshmerga, told Kurdistan 24 that there are 30 to 38 Peshmerga fighters currently held captive in Baghdad.

Barzinji explained that his department, in coordination with the Ministry of Peshmerga, is planning to visit Baghdad to learn about the fate of the missing Kurdish fighters.

He revealed that the “Iraqi government accuses the Peshmerga fighters of being IS members, sentencing them according to the anti-terror law,” stressing that is “far from the truth.”

“The Peshmerga fighters, held captive by IS, were paraded in cages through the streets in areas controlled by the extremists,” Irfan said. “They are prisoners of war, captured while defending the people of Kurdistan.”

Meanwhile, Ashwaq Jaff, a Kurdish MP in the Iraqi Parliament, told Kurdistan 24 that 21 of the missing Peshmerga fighters have been given life sentences and are held in a prison facility at the al-Muthanna Airport, north of Baghdad.

“The Peshmerga fighters were held captive in the IS-controlled areas of Rashad in Kirkuk Province when the Iraqi forces liberated the area in 2017,” Jaff stated.

She noted that “a follow-up” on the matter is ongoing until the Peshmerga fighters are released.

IS emerged in northern Iraq in June 2014 and occupied Mosul, the second-largest city in the country. Shortly afterward, the group expanded to other provinces including Nineveh, Diyala, Kirkuk, Salahuddin, and Anbar. 

The Peshmerga have been one of the most effective ground troops in the war against the extremist group. About 1,800 Kurdish forces have fallen while fighting IS, and over 12,000 more were injured, according to the Peshmerga Ministry.

Editing by Karzan Sulaivany