Iraqi authorities set to deport 500 foreign IS wives

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan 24) – Authorities in Iraq on Monday said they are preparing to deport over 500 wives of foreign Islamic State (IS) fighters who had illegally entered the country within the last three years.

According to the Councilor of Nineveh Province, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi had ordered the transfer of the women to a detention center in the north as “part of preparations for their departure to their countries of origin.”

Following the liberation of Tal Afar from the militant group, Iraqi forces said they received nearly 1,400 family members of IS fighters who had surrendered themselves to Peshmerga forces.

The families, consisting of women and children, surrendered to the Kurdish forces at the end of August following the offensive against the extremist group in Tal Afar, west of Mosul.

The Iraqi army and intelligence officers said most of the foreigners were from Turkey, Central Asia, and former Soviet states such as Tajikistan, Azerbaijan, and Russia.

The women and children were being held in a displaced person camp in the Nineveh Province, south of Mosul, before being transferred to an unknown location in the north of the city on Monday.

Speaking to AFP, a senior Iraqi security official added the women are “foreigners who [had] entered the country illegally.”

“Legal measures must be taken against them because, when they were detained, they were in an area controlled by terrorists,” the security official said.

Despite Iraq eager to negotiate with embassies on the return of the women and children, some nations, such as France, prefer citizens found guilty of affiliation with IS to be prosecuted in Iraq.

Editing by G.H. Renaud